Tropical leaf Interior fabric
It's only a few weeks until my Final Show at University so I've been busy in the print room digitally printing off lengths of my fabric designs. The design below is a scattered half drop repeat of tropical patterned leaves, which is going to be put on my tub chair in the next week.
At this part of the process, the 4M fabric has just come off the Mimaki printer and is resting ready to be steamed tomorrow. Then the washing process begins!
I printed the fabric in two separate parts so it is easier to wash and fits easily into a washing machine. The size of them separately are 136.98cm - 200cm and took 1 hour and 55 minutes to print out, which was really fast!
After the steaming process is finished I need to cut the fabric pieces apart in the center, and sew a small machine stitched line down each white horizontal boarder so the fabric doesn't fray in the washing process, and it may help the fabric keep its shape when it shrinks.
The washing period will probably take a few hours as the fabrics will need to go into the washing machine separately and go on atleast 3 cold washes each and then on a normal 30 Degree wash with a little non- bio washing powder.
The fabric should be fixed after this period but to check I'll iron the fabric corner onto a clean backing cloth whilst it's still a little damp to see if the dye spreads onto the cloth. If the dye does run then I'll repeat the process again until it is clear of excess dye.
I'm really happy with this design and I cant wait to see it finished and covering my tub chair.
I'll be recording the progress over the next few days, and posting my photographs of my fabrics at the finished stage, before being driven to the upholsterer.
Here's a quick snapshot of my fabric coming of the Mimaki printer! I watched this closely for 2 hours to keep a look out for fluff and cotton in the ink path.( I didn't want any mistakes at this late stage.)
Hope you all like my work!
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