Recently, Jenna suggested the possibility of fabric printing to me. This tied in extremely well with my project, as it would allow me to apply my patterns to fabric. I would then be able to show how they could apply to related products such as aprons and tea towels without simply mocking them up. I felt that this was a great opportunity, therefore myself, Jenna and Emily booked an evening slot with Andy. Initially, I was unsure as to how this would turn out, as I had never experienced this process before, however, I was quite excited to see the end results.
Emily started off by weighing the fabric down with bulldog clips. This ensured that tension was created during printing and that the fabric wouldn't fold, creating an incorrect print. Andy then worked out how to fit all of our images onto one length of fabric, that would insure minimal waste and cost.
This was then sent to print, and it started to get to work extremely quickly. It was noted that the quality of my print was very high, and that the watercolour effect had transferred extremely well onto fabric. Although it was quite a slow process, the colours were extremely accurate and the colours looked great.
As the fabric starting to reach a certain point, we were told to make sure that the bulldog clips did not get stuck behind one of the bars. We therefore had to keep an eye on the print in order to ensure a perfect design.
Once finished, I was extremely happy with how the print had turned out, and so were the other girls. We were also quite surprised at how cheap the process was, and how little time it actually took. We then left it with Andy as he said the fabric had to be steamed and set. We would then have to come back the next day and wash the residue off.
Myself and Jenna returned the next day, however, the washing process would take forty minutes. We therefore decided to take it home and simply wash it there. We were given instructions for this process, and Jenna took the fabric home as a number of her housemates are on printed textiles and were clued up on what to do.
Jenna stated:
"I put it in my bath and followed the instructions we had been given, starting with 5 minutes cold water, 2 minutes hot and then back to 5 minutes cold. Initially we wondered if it was really necessary to wash it, but once I started it became clear that it was. A slimy residue came out of the fabric and the water was changed to a yellowy
colour. Once the washing process was complete I left it to dry naturally."
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