Tag Archives: print your fabric

Colourful Bunch by Sharon Wilson

Not going to lie it’s very nice getting sweet notes of appreciation from our customers, but more than anything we love receiving photos of makes and completed projects. We just love seeing what fabrics that we have printed has become. Sharon Wilson surprised us recently with images of her amazing colourful creations, box pleated skirt & boxer shorts, she used her photo to create this beautiful floral fabric. Her honest feedback and tips and tricks on working with Aerocorp fabric are truly appreciated and we are sure will be really helpful and inspiring to other sewers. Here is what Sharon wrote:

About 7 years ago I took a digital photo of this colourful bunch of flowers in Switzerland. After seeing what Digital Fabrics could offer with their range of fabric types, I couldn’t wait to order the Aerocorp fabric and make a knee length box pleated skirt with waist yoke. It turned out beautifully and there was even enough remnant to make a pair of boxer shorts .

I found the Aerocorp not difficult to work with. As the website said, it did have a soft handle and cotton look and feel, however it was resilient, as 100% polyester is, but with a good press, it is easy to tame into place or make a crisp line where necessary.
Aerocorp fabric has a tendency to unravel immediately after being cut. So don’t over handle it, and make sure that raw edges are tamed as soon as possible.
The skirt has a lovely drape and swing to it.
I probably would not make a top out of it unless it was for a cooler climate and a dressier look.
If the print is very busy (as this one was) you could even possibly get away with not ironing it – great for traveling.

The fabric order delivery was on time and well packed. Inside was also a sample pack which I really appreciated because sewers really need to feel a fabric to gain good judgement on what to use. I would definitely recommend this service and am tempted to order again some time in future.

If you are like Sharon have a creative project in mind and would like to print your own fabric, you can upload your design and start creating right away here.

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Design your own leggings – How to prepare legging pattern for fabric printing in Photoshop

Garment making and production can be daunting and a complicated process especially placement or engineered printing. A lot of time and effort goes into research and understanding where to start. We have put together tutorials on how to design, work with and prepare legging pattern for digital placement fabric printing. For this tutorial you need to be proficient in Photoshop and Illustrator or at least have basic knowlage. Our tutorial is based on industry standards. This technic can be applied to printing other products such as bikinis, t-shirts, singlets , dresses etc.

How to prepare legging pattern for fabric printing in Photoshop

Open the PDF file in Illustrator. You can purchase our digital leggings pattern on our website or use your own.

Copy and paste the size you would like to use within the same file, we have selected size 10.

Delete all details and notches within the pattern piece and select the pattern shape and fill in black.

while legging is selected copy and take note on the sizing.

Open Photoshop and select a new artboard, keep the pixels and resolution the same, just make sure you’ve selected RGB color mode. Click OK and Paste pattern piece as a smart object, click enter to place.

Double check that the sizing is correct by selecting Image>image size, in this case it is only a few points off which will be fine.

Next you’ll need to increase your artboard size to fit the other leg, change the width of your artboard to the width of the fabric you’d like to use and select the anchor points to extend from corner.

Copy Layer and while selected transform (Ctrl+t), while still selected right click on top of the layer and select Flip Horizontally, you know have a pair.

With both layers selected you will need to select transform again (ctrl+t) and while select cover over to rotate, when rotating make sure you hold down shift to make sure it rotates correctly.

Copy and paste the design you would like on your leggings and place layer on top of the one of the pattern legs.

Right click on the design layer and in the drop down menu select create clipping mask.

Repeat for other leg

Group all layers and centre.

Your file is now ready to print!

Soon you’ll have your printed fabric which you’ll be able to whip up into these comfy leggings

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Designing Fabric: How To Make A Repeat Pattern – Full Drop repeat in Photoshop

For this tutorial we have choose Full Drop pattern repeat. It is not an advanced technic, mostly for those who is not very proficient in Photoshop yet like to be creative and play. This fabric pattern repeat tutorial mainly suitable for photographic and abstract images.

Full Drop repeat in Photoshop

Full Drop Repeats can also be referred to as Square repeat.

Open your artwork file in Photoshop. It’s always a good idea to check the resolution quality before beginning, a minimum of 150 dpi is recommended. Crop/alter the image as desired till you are happy with an artwork that will be tiled to repeat seamlessly.

Original image – all four corners of image are relatively different and this is what will need to be fixed to create a seamless repeat.

Original image with no fixing of the seams, looks mismatched.

Take note of the pixel size of your image (Image – Image Size)

As well as HALF this amount. An easy way to do this is let the computer decide, halve the resolution amount (150 dpi in this case), and re-note the new pixel dimensions. Click cancel as you don’t want to actually change the resolution, just take note of it.

Now cut (OFFSET) the image in half both length and width ways. This will give the edges or seams that need to be fixed for seamless repeating. It is ideal to do this step with a flattened layer. (Filter – Other – Offset) Now put in the HALVED horizontal and vertical values determined in step 2 and make sure that Wrap Around is selected. Click OK.

It is clear to see where the image needs to be fixed to create a seamless repeat, where no harsh contrasting lines can be seen as in the above image. There are several tools to use in photoshop that you can use to do this including (but not limited to) stamp, blur, patch, clone…enjoy the play!

It is a good idea to offset the now fixed image, just to check the four points that you haven’t missed anything and nothing is looking odd.

This now forms your Repeat Tile and this is the tile/image that is required when sending artwork to a printer or uploading it for fabric printing online.

SAVE! Save file as (Artwork Name)_Repeat Tile
You must now check your repeat and to see it duplicated across the width and down the length of your fabric. An easy way to do so is to define your reworked artwork as a pattern. Menu>Edit>Define Pattern>Save as preferred name.
Open a new blank document with a set up reflecting something similar to a roll of fabric i.e. 145 x 100 cm depending on you repeat tile dimensions.
Menu>Edit>Fill>Select your saved pattern from the drop down box>OK

(shown below is only 50 x 50 cm)

Now you can use your repeat pattern or repeat tile for digital custom fabric printing.

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Super Easy Baby Blanket DIY

Katy Dee from Letter 11 recently printed custom fleece fabric with us to make comfy baby blanket for her little nephew and shared her creative process with us. Get creative, make your own fleece blanket, its super easy!

You will need:

Custom printed fleece fabric, the beauty of this fabric is that you can make a blanket without using filling or backing fabric. One layer of fabric is enough to get comfy and snuggly. You can order your custom fabric here!
A sewing machine.
Bias Binding, you will need enough to go around the entire blanket. For this a 1.5m x 1m fleece blanket used just over 5m.
Dressmaking pins and scissors.

Cut your custom fleece fabric to the size and shape you want, in tutorial the blanket is 1.5m by 1m which is big and snuggly! A square would also be cute.
Find a spot around half way down the longest length of blanket to start pinning the bias. To pin you fold it naturally in half with the flaps on the inside and wrap it around the blanket pinning all 3 layers together like a sandwich. Carry on pinning the binding all the way to the corner.
Now it’s time to begin sewing…. Using running stitch and the colour thread of your choice, pop the blanket in under the machine foot and do a few back stitches first to secure the bias. Then continue sewing on the inside edge of the binding and down towards the corner following and removing the pins as you sew….
To wrap the bias binding around that corner nice and neatly, fold the corners down to create a diagonal fold and pin this into place. At this point, also pin the binding along the length towards the next corner. Sew slightly into the diagonal fold, stop to rotate the blanket so you can sew another side of the blanket bias and continue to sew all around the fleece blanket.
When you are nearly at the point where you began sewing, do a few backstitches and remove the blanket. Cut the binding neatly so there is just a 4-5 cm length left. Fold this in on itself and pin down into place creating a neat hidden pocket. Now you can pop the blanket back in and sew that last little bit up! Don’t forget to finish with a few backstitches for safety!

And there you go, a super cute baby fleece blanket!

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DIY with Digital Fabrics – The Sara Project

“The fabric is so soft, and the print is bright and bold; really great quality! I love how unique my top feels in this fresh print.” – The Sara Project

The beauty about fabrics is seeing them come to life whether it becomes a pillow cover or a unique piece of clothing. Digital Fabrics recently teamed up with Sara from The Sara Project who loves to share her passion for sewing on her blog.

Sara used our Ethnic in Cornflower in micro fabric to create this unique top. It’s fresh, flown and this top can definitely be worn during all seasons. And we’re happy to read she was pleased with the fast shipping and quality of the Digital Fabrics she received

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Tag Archives: print your fabric

Colourful Bunch by Sharon Wilson

Design your own leggings – How to prepare legging pattern for fabric printing in Photoshop

Designing Fabric: How To Make A Repeat Pattern – Full Drop repeat in Photoshop

Super Easy Baby Blanket DIY

DIY with Digital Fabrics – The Sara Project

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