Cat Mini Fabric TipsYou can easily print on fabric with your inkjet printer for making mini bedspreads, curtains, rugs, etc.
Since you are working in a very small scale, your fabric needs to be thin, with a tight, smooth weave. Bleached muslin is what I prefer. You will need to wash the fabric to remove the sizing for best results. You can also buy paper backed sheets of fabric made especially for your inkjet printer. To find where to buy them online, just go to Froogle and search for "inkjet cotton fabric sheets."
One way to preare your fabric for printing is to use 18 inch wide freezer paper that is coated with plastic or wax. By by using a piece 12 inches long, you can make two 8.5 x 11 sheets. Lay the paper on the fabric and cut the fabric to fit. Heat your iron to the cotton setting. Lay fabric on plastic side of freezer paper and iron. Iron until the fabric is bonded to the plastic coating of the paper. Make sure the edges are completly bonded to the paper. Let the sheet cool before you test the bond . If it is not completly bonded, iron again until you get the desired results. Using an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper as a guide mark two pages on your bonded fabric. Cut the pieces using very sharp scissors. Take exra care not to fray the edges. Make sure to remove any stray threads. Fold pieces of Scotch tape over the two corners that will lead into the printer. This will help keep the fabric from being pulled away from the paper when the tractor draws the paper into the printer.
Before you do the final printing, I recommend that you do a "Print Preview" of the item you want to print on plain paper. You can decide if the printable will need to be resized.
Place your paper in the feed tray making sure that it is the correct print side position. Use the same printer settings as you would for normal paper. Let your printed item dry, then peel away the paper backing.
If you are printing a smaller miniature, you may not want to use an entire fabric sheet. After you select the item you want, print a preview on a regular sheet of paper. Check the scale and resize if needed. Once you are happy with the scale, take a piece of fabric a few inches larger than the printable and position it on the paper where the image will print. Use masking tape to to fix the fabric to the paper. Overlap the tape a bit and make sure it is attatched smoothly and completly. Print as you would a normal sheet of paper. Let the fabric dry before you remove it.   
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Selecting Your Fabric