I had to do a load of laundry yesterday because I was running out of clean essentials. While I was in the basement I trimmed the huge Marcia Derse 16 patch quilt.
I had 6 yards of this large Marcia Derse print so I used it on the back. I bought the two 3 yard pieces at different times and possibly from 2 different stores. When I went to match the backing seam, I realized that one of them had slightly smaller motifs so by the time I got to the bottom of the seam they were a little off. I can tell this is digitally printed because the back of the fabric is white, no dye coming through. It makes me wonder if there is more than one machine doing the digital printing at the factory and the settings for the design are slightly different. I'll choose binding fabric today in daylight since I didn't get it done yesterday. I did some outside work instead.
Since I'm on the subject of digital printing, I'm wondering how many of you are happy with it. From some companies the fabric is silky, almost slippery, like satin. I'm not too happy with it and prefer the old fashioned way they were printing fabrics. I like the feel of the older fabrics.
17 comments:
I agree with you on the digitally printed fabrics. They don’t wash up as nicely, in my opinion, and I generally try to avoid buying them. Interesting about the two pieces you have not lining up exactly.
Oh I have an attitude about digitally printed fabric. It just seems “fake” to me. I am curious to see how it stands up over time in quilts as well as clothing. This is one thing that makes me a bit apprehensive about buying fabric online. You have to rely on them telling you if it’s digitally printed or not. I have a few pieces of yardage that is digitally printed (that I bought online) and have just been using it in small pieces. Good idea to use it as backing!
I am not a fan of the digitally printed fabric either. It opens up a whole different world for designs, but the fabric behaves differently, too. I try to avoid them whenever possible. Backing IS a good idea for using it!
I am also not a fan of digitally printed fabrics--somehow they don't have the "look" and "feel" of regularly dyed ones to me.
64 here this morning and overcast; we had .07" rain overnight--good for my Winter Rye;)))
That is one big quilt to handle, Wanda--so pretty.
Hugs, Julierose
What a lovely and delightfully colorful quilt this will be. Hope it's not too large to manipulate comfortably.
I'm with everyone here (so far) who prefers fabrics that are not digitally printed for the already stated reasons. Seems an unnecessary short-cut in the printing process to me.
Yesterday we got 1.20" of rain and today's high is 76*F, so it will be humid!
Hugs!
I don't care for the digitally printed fabrics at all. The feel of the fabric is off and the look of the fabric just seems off on so many of them. I don't buy it if I can help it and have been buying more of the older fabrics from ebay and etsy.
I think you're onto something with the idea of digital printing on multiple machines. I agree with you about the hand-feel of many digital prints. Some feel spongy or almost like polyester. Sometimes it seems like the white substrate is showing through the printing; that could be intentional, I guess. I wonder how the colorfastness will hold up over time and use. Like everyone else in the comments here, I'm not a fan and I avoid buying them if possible.
I agree that digital prints are "off." The design has a float-on-top quality. Some FB comments said there were problems with using a digital print as the backing -- that the needle poking through made holes (the ink sort of chips off??). Also, as much as I like the Serious Whimsey prints I can tell that some of them are made from digital collages of others.
I got a hold of a piece a year or so ago that is a white/cream color with a black print on it and I was not happy with it - it felt way too light and I found it hard to work with. It was listed as quilt fabric - I had ordered it on line so didn't know how it felt in advance
You will never see being slightly off on the back. I don't like digital printed fabric.
I really dislike the digital printing on fabrics. When I first encountered them, I wondered if they were 100% polyester. They do not feel like cotton at all. They feel like plastic. The fibers are stiff. When I cut the fabric, there is always loose threads that hang out at an angle. I pull that thread and the next thread pokes out. It seems like the seams would eventually fail because the fabric keeps unravelling. The fabric doesn't drape well. It also seems thicker than other cotton quilting fabrics and so I wonder if there would be more wear and tear (if using normal fabrics with digital fabrics in one quilt) on the seams because of the uneven thickness of the fabrics. If there is a digital fabric that I really like the colors and design, I might buy it to make a tote bag, but otherwise I always try to avoid those fabrics. I hope we don't get to a point where that is the only option. I am glad I have a large stash of normal fabric. So, do I like digitally printed fabric? Nope.
deb
Wow - I thought I would be in the minority for not loving digitally printed fabrics! I agree with the previous comments on the feel and weight along with concerns about how the fabrics will age. Happy I have a deep stash of the traditionally printed fabrics.
You’re the first quilter I’ve seen blog about this. I have written to two online shops that I buy quilt fabric from. One listed the yardages of a line as digitally printed, but not the bundles. What? I’m particularly disappointed in Marcus fabrics as I think they have gone completely digital in their printing. They have several of the best designers for traditional reproductions and I won’t buy them anymore as I think it is inferior and I don’t trust it to age well in my quilts next to my older vintage reproduction fabrics. Very sad.
I agree with everyone else. Don't care for the digital fprinted fabric.
I'm a day behind, but I just had to chime in and agree with everyone else about digitally printed fabric. They are slippery and feel funny, plus I had one fabric get "runs" in it when it was quilted. Sadly, many more fabrics are being produced this way. It's too bad because the colors are quite vibrant. Hurray for big stashes so we can avoid buying these.
Pat
Thanks for mentioning this. I just got the first piece of digitally printed fabric and I'm not a fan. It's...slimy...and I'm going to bet the ink will chip off when I quilt it. Sometimes a website will include "digitally printed" in the description, but this piece didn't. I should have realized there was something different because the description included "60 x 60" - could it be referring to the thread count? Thank goodness for my stash!
I don't like the feel of digital fabrics and the edges fray bad.
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