Freezer Paper Printing Tutorial

How do you print on fabric??  I assumed that as soon as I posted this picture of my name tag for the Sewing Summit that I would get people writing me that exact question.  And since I figured that question would come up, I actually remembered to take pictures of the process while I was making this name tag :)  Yippee Skippee!!  So without further ado . . . I give you the Freezer Paper Printing Tutorial.

Start by cutting an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of freezer paper and a  8 1/2" x 11" piece of fabric that you want to print on.  (It is probably best to use light colors here as I don't know how well the printing would show up on dark colors ;)  

Lay the freezer paper onto the fabric with the shiny side down (you know, the side that feels more slippery and less like paper.)      Press your little freezer paper sandwich.  It only takes a few seconds to adhere the freezer paper to the fabric.

Now just leave the freezer paper adhered to the fabric.  See how it is stiff now.  You can now feed it into the paper tray of your printer and it is ready to be printed on.  It just feeds through as one sheet :)

So get your desired design that you want to print all ready on your computer.  I like to put a box around whatever I am printing as it makes it easier to cut it out :)

When your design is all done you are ready to print.  In your printing advanced options you should be able to change the intensity of your printing.  I like to make the intensity darker since the printing on the material is not normally as dark as paper.

Once the design has printed give it a few seconds to make sure it is dry so it doesn't smear.  Then just peel the fabric away from the freezer paper.  (It will just come right off :)

Cut out your design.  Now just heat set your printed piece.  (note . . heat setting will help to prevent the ink from running in the case that it gets wet, however, this is not a perfect water-proof process.  Certain ink colors and inks can still run even after being heat set.  So if you are wanting to do this in something that will need to be washed I would suggest experimenting with the colors first before sewing it into something :)

Now just take your printed design and sew it into your project!!  Wha-La!!  Easy and affordable Printing on Fabric :)  Enjoy!!!

*** EDIT***  There were some wonderful tips left in the comments so I wanted to add them to make sure everyone saw them.  Thanks to Jessica Jo and NancyinSTL for their wonderful helps!!

1 - The freezer paper can be used many many many times over!
2 - This is a good way to transfer embroidery designs, as long as they are small enough to fit through your machine.
3 - Choose fabric with a high thread count to ensure better printing.
4 - Treat the fabric first with Bubble Jet to make it colorfast.
5 - Cut fabric and paper slightly larger than 8.5" x 11" just before ironing the fabric to the freezer paper, then cut the fabric stuck to the freezer paper to 8.5" x 11". This will help prevent the fabric from peeling back and jamming up in the printer.