I know I promised this ages ago, but better late than never!  I was mostly very pleased with the way my artwork printed onto the fabric via Spoonflower.   (Click here for my original Spoonflower post.)  There was excellent clarity of detail, and while the printed colors were not as bright and vivid as they were in the digital files, most of the colors came out pretty well.  Some pieces did turn out better than others though.  Here’s a closer examination:

The actual fabric is above, and the digital file below.

This tiled bee design turned out exceptionally well.  The colors were pretty accurate, or close enough.

Next up, my folk art bird:

Actual fabric is above, digital file is below.

This one turned out nicely as well.  Leaving aside the noticeable blue-ish tinge in the photograph, the colors of the fabric turned out lighter than the digital file, but the result was still rather pleasant.  It has been my experience that with Spoonflower printed fabric, strong graphic lines turn out better than images with subtle shading, which is part of what made this image a successful digital fabric print. 

Next, Pink Cupcake / Fulgent Life:

Close-up of fabric print above, digital file below.

I decided to show a close-up of the fabric on this one, to show how the fabric handles detail.  Of all the fabric swatches I ordered, this one was probably the most disappointing in terms of color.  The colors were nowhere near as bright and vivid as in the digital file.  I’ve used the same file to print on canvas, with fabulously vibrant results, so I can only imagine that it must be the fabric itself that dulls the colors a bit.  The pinks were problematic, and the cupcake paper turned out too dark.  I’ll include a photo of a print made on canvas, to show how I would have liked the fabric to ideally look.

Print on matte canvas

The cupcake print on fabric is also an example of how the fabric-printing process doesn’t seem to work as well (in my experience) with gradual shading as it does with solid colors.  The fabric cupcake print is certainly passable, but I would be unlikely to sell it to the public for crafting purposes (such as quilting or pillow-making). 

So, there is a brief analysis of 3 of the digital files I had printed on Spoonflower.  I still have 3 more fabric images/designs to share and compare, but that will have to wait for next time!