First Try At Using Printable Fabric

[Lamanda2]

I rejoiced when at the craft store just this past week when I found they had just started selling Printer Fabric, something I've wanted to get me paws on for some time now.
The price was $11 for 6 sheets, but thankfully the store, AC Moore puts out a 40% off any one item coupon each week, which brought the price down to a good range.

I used up about 2/3s of one sheet, and here is what I've come up with thus far:

-Dragon Master Cloaks-
-Crownie Cloaks-
-Small Skull and Crownie Capes-
-Dragon Flags-
-American Flag-

Fabric is pretty floppy once off the paper backing, so I used some fabric stiffener I had lying around, which made them more like LEGO fabric.
The problem I'm having is this; the elements are only printed on one side, which doesn't bother me, it's just that the printed design kinda shows through to the back. Perhaps I could paint it or something.

Now alls I need are some of those nice hole punches Mark mentioned somewhere, I know what they are and all, but does anybody know the hole size in LEGO capes? (And the little hole size in the flags)

Your thoughts and suggestions are welcome.

~Amanda

[leaf_of_lire]

Great capes/cloaks, I really like the dragon capes. As for the hole sizes, I do not know, I'll check when I get home.

[footsteps]

Nice work.

I've been reconciling bank accounts all day, so I'm in a math mood. Ignoring the sale price, each sheet costs $1.83, and you can get about 19 images on it (based on your output of 2/3 of a sheet), which works out to a wee bit under 10 cents per image. I'd like to see BL beat that!

Can you give some more details as to the process? What do the sheets look like pre-printing? post-printing? What kind of "fabric stiffener" did you use? (I have no idea what that is.)

Alan

[natelite]

What kind of "fabric stiffener" did you use? (I have no idea what that is.)

Alan

well, not so long ago people use plain old starch to stiffen the collars. not sure what people use these days to stiffen fabric.

[footsteps]

What kind of "fabric stiffener" did you use? (I have no idea what that is.)

Alan

well, not so long ago people use plain old starch to stiffen the collars. not sure what people use these days to stiffen fabric.

When it comes to laundry, I'm the classic neanderthal male: wash/dry/wear. If it can't be done that way, guaranteed that I'll screw up. Early in our marriage my wife learned that I can't be trusted with "complicated" laundry instructions. So, now she does the laundry, I do the dishes -- so far (15+ years) none of the dishes etc have acquired a pink hue.

Alan

[babyjawa]

Those are awesome, Amanda! I've had printable fabric for a while now, but I never knew the exact size to print them at, so it never really worked well for me. Any chance you could give me some sizes?

Anyways, I really like those. Look better than Lego's.

[natelite]

When it comes to laundry, I'm the classic neanderthal male: wash/dry/wear. If it can't be done that way, guaranteed that I'll screw up. Early in our marriage my wife learned that I can't be trusted with "complicated" laundry instructions. So, now she does the laundry, I do the dishes -- so far (15+ years) none of the dishes etc have acquired a pink hue.

Alan

ah...and here i thought you were a classic gen y'er. baby boomer's baby.

[Donut]

Hey Amanda those look great! Did you just print the fabric like normal paper? This is really inspirational, when I get back home I will start with the decals that I have long neglected hehe.

[Escape The Fate]

Thats so cool, i cant wait to see what else you do with them.

[Shoes]

Wow the capes look official! Great Job i have to get some of this.

[Quickblade22]

Wow, those look great. A terrific job on another form of customizing. I'd like to see those applied to some of your figs. It'd be cool to see what you could do in the forms of tabards or barding.

[The dark tide]

Excellent work as always Amanda. You works are some of my favorite customs. Keep up the good work.

[ottoatm]

Inspirational is the right word when seeing these - excellent work! I'm in love with that skull cape - especially since as of now there are none! The crown capes are very cool too - which leads me to my next question - where did you get the skull and crown graphics? As far as I know these graphics are not online anywhere... unless... LEGO.com?

Wonderful stuff...

[Lamanda2]

"..which works out to a wee bit under 10 cents per image. I'd like to see BL beat that!"

Heck, at that price you could make your own plain color capes, just print both sides of the fabric one color and there you go!

"Can you give some more details as to the process?"

I'll do my best to answer any questions:

"What do the sheets look like pre-printing? post-printing?"

Pre-Printing, they look almost like paper. One side actually is paper, you peel that off after printing, the other side looks kinda like canvas, but the fabric is much more thin and flexible compared to canvas.

Post-Printing, looks just like what I said in the above, only with stuff printed on it.

I couldn't get any good picture of the paper itself for some reason, but I did get a front and a back picture of the package.

"What kind of "fabric stiffener" did you use? (I have no idea what that is.)"

I used some stuff I got a long while back, it's called 'Aleen's Stiffen Quik'. You can either spray on a coat and let it dry for a long while on it's own, or use a blow dryer or the like to speed that time up to a minute or two (I used my embossing heat tool.).

It gets to a nice stiffness after one coat, but you can apply as much as you like ontil you get the desired affect.

"Any chance you could give me some sizes?"

If you stop over to MCN, head into the template section. For each template there is a print size, that is what I used for this, and it worked just right!

"Did you just print the fabric like normal paper?"

Yep, just like it was a regular pice of paper. You just have to be sure you have the right side up first or it'll print on the paper backing.

"where did you get the skull and crown graphics? As far as I know these graphics are not online anywhere... unless... LEGO.com?"

I drew the graphics up in Paint.NET a little while back when I was making some castle torso and shield decals.

Any other questions, shoot away!

~Amanda

[footsteps]

I couldn't get any good picture of the paper itself for some reason, but I did get a front and a back picture of the package.

Thanks for the pics, and the extra write up, Amanda. Do you get the fabric "paper" from a stationery store or a craft store?

ah...and here i thought you were a classic gen y'er. baby boomer's baby.

I'm among the last of the Boomers.

Alan