The Solution called Bubble Jet Set lets you use an ink jet printer and the pictures will be pretty stable, if not brilliant in color. I used them to make a quilt with photographs as the centers of flowers.

Sorry the big picture itself is blurry.

Thanks for the info.

Is that ink or a fabric surface? Where would I look for it?

Has your quilt been washed? Is that pic from after a washing?

Why don't you just make a handprinted label? You can add a border with a bit of your leftover fabric if you want to jazz it up a bit.

Annie

Yes. I may very well have to go that way. But, having printed out his picture, I thought it would be sorta special as he grows to be able to flip over the quilt and see his own pic as a newborn on the label with his birthday and weight. Now that I've got this idea in my compulsive-obsessive little brain, I don't want to let go of it without giving it my best shot. KWIM?

Why not take it to Kinkos and print it on a laser printer? If you aren't sure how to do that, just save the file to a disk and take it in along with the fabric to print it on. They'll help you get it exactly like you want it. You might even check out their website because I think you can email the file to them for printing and then go pick it up.

I hand print all my labels and like the way they look, but I love your idea of using the picture.

Kate

Thanks for your thoughts.

Printing it isn't the issue. I can print it. The issue is finding a technique/materials that will stand up to machine washing.

I use printer fabric (Printed Treasures) all the time for quilt labels. I use an ink-jet printer. After setting the ink, following the directions, the ink will not run, and the labels won't fade any faster than any other fabric.

Are you sure you read the instructions completely? Each fabric has a different method for setting the ink, which must be followed so that the print won't bleed.

BTW - laser printers do NOT work with most (any?) printer fabric!

The Bubble Jet Set solution also works, and I prefer it, since I can use my own fabric and have it match some component of the quilt.

I also find the printer fabrics very dense and tight compared to quilting cotton, and that makes them difficult to hand sew.

All this discussion reminded me that waaaay back in the recesses of my addled brain was a dim memory of reading that if you adhere fabric to freezer paper you can run it through a printer. I think that's, essentially, what I bought -- 4 pieces of muslin stuck on freezer paper for $10. Some racket!

So I got some freezer paper and ironed a piece of cotton that I had washed to remove the sizing onto it and put it through my ink jet printer.

It printed just fine. I got a clear -- if not vibrant -- image with no ink bleeding. I heat set the ink as the directions on the commercial labels instructed me to do. I could not scratch any of the text away with my fingernails. I pulled the fabric off the freezer paper and scrunched it up and straightened it out and the image was still clear and not deteriorated. Then I cut the fabric in half and wet half of it -- no detergent or aggitation, just wet -- and the image is gone. GONE.

So, now I know I can experiment with fabric scraps without spending $2.50 a sheet to do it. But I haven't made any progress on getting a permanent label.

The fabric I used was a very light batik print. Tomorrow I'll get some white cotton and whatever ink fixatives I can come up with and start experimenting. I'll post some pix.

I found this page that illustrates Bubble Jet Set and Printed Treasures. (I wasn't familiar with them and didn't even understand that BJS was a fixative and not a printing surface.)

It also explains the process of printing using fabric stuck to freezer paper and has another product (pricey don't-you-know) that is supposed to be exceptional for photos. That's what I ordered.

I'm also going to look for BJS locally. Thanks for all your help!

Here is a link that might be useful: Printing options

I think I washed the quilt--but only once before sending it to my cousin. Looking at some pictures on the Web, it has seemed to me, though, that ones printed on Printed Treasures fabric sheets look more vivid. Maybe I didn't use cotton with a fine enough weave.

I have never used Printed Treasures. I am thinking of trying the product if I ever make another quilt with pictures in it.

Thank you all so much, my dears.

And I forgot to say how charming your quilt is, biwako. ;>