Photo Transfer

Transferring photos to quilts has been popular for many years. The oldest method is cyanoprinting, also known as blueprinting or sunprinting. Modern technology has provided quilters and other textile artists with more photo transfer techniques. Photocopiers and computers give us the means to transfer even color photos to fabrics.

Color laser printers allow us to make iron-on transfers by printing color and black and white photos on treated paper to make the iron-ons similar to the ones t-shirt shops use. These transfers have the same rubbery feel that you get on t-shirt pictures, so it is a little difficult to quilt them.

Photocopiers that use powdered toners can be used to make black and white images to transfer to fabrics using solvents, Bondex Mending Tape or gel medium. These methods can only be used for black and white pictures, not color.

If you have a computer, a scanner and an color ink-jet printer, you can print scanned pictures or other images directly on fabric treated with Bubble Jet Set 2000 to make you own fabric designs. Check out the Personalized Embellishments, Inc. web site for lots of information on this product. Now you can transfer your treasured photographs to fabric without damaging them. They are great to include on keepsake quilts for loved ones.

It is also a great way to make quilt labels and to put text on quilts. Print your text on an acetate sheet to make a negative or picture that you can flip to sunprint or make an iron-on transfer.

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