Printing miniature fabric: a tutorial

A friend popped past yesterday to show me her copy of the new Handmade Living book and her work for The Sketchbook Project. We got talking about other projects she's working on and I mentioned printing on fabric at home, something I've been doing a lot recently for mini projects.

She didn't know about it so I explained and sent her home with a length of freezer paper from my stash.

And I realised it was probably a good time to show how you can use the technique to add individuality to your mini projects. Today I'm wanting to make some cushions to go with the vintage London theme of yesterday's scene and (finally) print some Marimekko Unikko fabric as a test.

What you'll need:

* Cotton fabric (I used a light white poplin)
* Freezer paper
* A piece of A4-sized card to draw around
* General craft supplies: a cutting board, a pencil and scissors
* A metal ruler and rotary cutter (or just use the scissors and a steady hand)
* An iron and ironing board (if you use one)
* A piece of old clean wood (or similar flat surface: I use an old art board) and an old pillowcase or length of fabric to cover it
* Your computer, the internet and Word
* An inkjet printer.

Step one: Gather your supplies.Step two: Using the piece of A4 card as a template, mark off an A4-sized piece of your freezer paper on the matte side. (I use the edge of the paper as one of the edges of my piece, saving extra cutting.)Step three: Roughly cut around the outside of your marked-out areas.Step four: Set the iron to cotton and dry.Step five: Iron the fabric smooth (use a spray bottle if necessary, but ensure the fabric is completely dry before proceeding to the next step)Step six: Place the wooden surface on the ironing board and cover with the old pillowcase or fabric.Step seven: Iron the freezer paper onto the fabric, shiny side towards the fabric. Step eight: Cut along the marked lines.Step nine: Clean up any dangling threads.(You don't want to kill your printer now, do you?)Step ten: Iron the edges of your pieces to ensure they are attached firmly. Focus particularly on the leading edge. Step eleven: Choose and harvest your images (I don't need to remind you about copyright and personal use only and stuff, do I?) Step twelve: Create a new Word document, inserting your images and resizing them to the correct size (I left plenty of room around my images to use as seam allowances on my "vintage tea towel" cushions.)
Step thirteen: Insert your fabric/ freezer paper piece into your printer, making sure the fabric is the side that will be printed. Set your printing preferences to best quality printing and hit print.

Step fourteen: Carefully peel the fabric off the freezer paper backing.

Step fifteen: Heat set your print by ironing on the wrong side for approximately three minutes (or the length of one pop song. Or until you get bored.)That's it! You're done!

(By the way, I would suggest not testing the colour fastness of your print by washing it or using liquid glue on it.)

See the pieces in use in this scene.

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Read my other modern miniature tutorials:

Paint a vase with nail varnish
Make a floor rug out of a placemat
Turn stickers into modern placemats
Refinish a discount-store side table
Print an iPod, mobile phone or other electronic device
Make a duck-board bathmat out of tongue depressors.