“If tomorrow will be the end of the world, I will spend my today by looking at the pictures of my past!”― Mehmet Murat ildan
As a photographer, I am always intrigued by new ways to display photographs. I’ve often thought that a quilt made of memories in photographs would be a worthy project. However, up until this point, I haven’t been impressed by products that allow you to transfer photos onto fabric.
This Autumn was a time of change for my brother and his family. With one daughter moving overseas for a few years, a new grandbaby miles away and a diagnosis of breast cancer with subsequent radiation treatments for my sister-in-law, I was elated when I was able to spend time photographing them when all of their family was in one place—something that won’t happen again for at least a few years.
I knew I wanted to do something with the photographs, and I couldn’t get the idea of a memory quilt out of my head. I searched for a good method to transfer the photographs to fabric that would 1.) not be cost prohibitive and 2.) would meet my tough standards of printing. A quick search online led me to want to try Bubble Jet Set 2000. Since my standards of print quality are pretty high, I honestly had pretty low expectations and thought I might need to scrap the project if I couldn’t achieve nice printing.
Choosing the photographs to include was probably the most difficult part of this project. 
I decided on a block quilt that would be 9 blocks wide by 12 blocks long—at 5 ¼ x 5 ¼ with ¼ inch seam allowances, the quilt would be 45 x 60 inches. Out of 108 squares, I chose to include 24 photos. I also wanted to include a few descriptive words, and I also designed those and printed on white squares with the same method, but then added some marbling to the squares with Tsudeneko ink—a technique I will cover in a future blog.
Here is the process for creating the photo squares:
- Cut white quilt cotton squares 5 ¼ x 5 ¼ “
- Soak the fabric in the Bubble Jet solution as directed and let dry. I soaked mine for 10 min. After drying, I ironed them flat.
- Iron the squares to freezer paper:
-You can purchase precut letter-size sheets of freezer paper. However, I found it much more economical to cut my own sheets. You need one sheet per square.
-I found that marking the paper 1 in. from top and 1 in. fromvleft, then placing the image at that point when printing worked well and kept the fabric from getting caught on the printer roller
-I also found that I needed to use a VERY hot iron to be sure the wax is adhered well to the paper. I have a heat press, so I used that set at around 250-290 degrees, being careful not to burn the paper.
- Print the images by feeding each freezer paper/fabric sheet one at a time. Immediately, I was amazed at the color and clarity of the printing! Allow them to dry and sit for 24 hours.
- Once the images are dry, gently rinse/wash as directed in mild soap. They sell a special rinse for this purpose, but I used Woolite with good results.
- Allow the images to dry and iron flat. Since some stretching of fibers happens with all the manipulation, I checked and trimmed the squares as necessary before assembling on the quilt.
Assemble your quilt top, quilt as desired and enjoy for years to come!
Final Thoughts:
I presented the quilt to my brother and sister-in-law on Thanksgiving since that is when we were together for the holidays. They seemed to love and it has already found a place on their wall.
What photos will you print on fabric? What projects will you do with them? Share in the comments below…
