Cotton Print

Reviews for Cotton Printing

Cotton Print

Design Your Own Cotton Print Fabric

from $44.50

Our range of cotton print fabrics are perfect for your home craft projects, from making cotton printed bag...

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    Ships in 3 - 4 days

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    Delivery $15.95

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    Handmade



Quantity Discount

  • ≥ 3 m2: $65/sq m
  • ≥ 10 m2: $61/sq m 6.3% Discount
  • ≥ 20 m2: $60/sq m 7.8% Discount
  • ≥ 30 m2: $58/sq m 10.9% Discount
  • ≥ 40 m2: $55/sq m 15.5% Discount
  • ≥ 50 m2: $47/sq m 27.8% Discount
  • ≥ 1 m2: $89/sq m
  • ≥ 0.5 m2: $89/sq m

Cotton Print Fabric Features

  • Wide range of cotton fabrics to customise
  • Permanent, full colour print
  • Soft, durable and versatile
  • Custom dimensions & 4 edge finishing options
  • Printed to order
  • Fast delivery

Working with cotton is so easy, and the results are spectacular.

Our innovative printing process for cotton gives a clear and exceptional print on natural fabrics as well as cotton blends, as it bonds the ink to the material. Cotton by nature is soft, durable and a match made in heaven for dressmakers as it's a breathable, moisture wicking fabric. But being so versatile in the different textures, weights and blends of cotton print fabric available, it's perfect for beddings, crafts and underwear too. Have fun getting creative with cotton.
  • Wide range of natural, organic cottons and cotton blends
  • Fully customised with your designs
  • Specialist digital cotton print
  • Perfect for making clothes, underwear, nightwear
  • Resists piling
  • Can be worn all year round
  • Retains body heat in cold weather
  • Keeps the body cool in warm weather
  • Suitable for bedding, pillows, cushions & crafts
  • Easy to handle and sew
  • Soft but durable
  • Choose from 4 edge finishing options
  • No minimum order 
  • Printed to order
  • Ready in 1-2 days

Care instructions

Wash at 30°C, low tumble dry heat, hang to dry, do not wring, low heat iron.

  • Wash At 30 Degrees
  • Wash at 85 Fahrenheit
  • Tumble 1
  • Low Heat

Hemming options

Depending on how you plan to use your cotton print fabric, you can choose how you want the edges to be finished:

  • As it comes. We roughly cut around your image, leaving a simple scissor cut (perhaps uneven white fabric border).
  • Hem with thread. We can hem your fabric with a choice of black or white thread. Please allow 1-2 days additional production time. See below for information on how hemming affects the size of your print.
  • Cut on the line. We neatly and precisely cut on the edge of your image.

If you choose to have your textile finished with a hem, please bear in mind these measurements and ensure you factor this into your dimensions. 

  • Light fabrics: we use 6-8mm in the hem (2 fold), so your width/height will be minus 12-16mm
  • Medium fabrics that fray: we use 15-20mm in the hem (2 fold) so your width/height will be minus 35-40mm
  • Stiff/heavy/no-fray fabrics: we use 15-20mm in the hem (1 fold) so width/height will be minus 35-40mm

How to Care for Your Cotton

On the whole we recommend a cold delicate wash for more gentle cleaning, or specialist dry cleaning. Hot washing at anything above 30°c could cause colour fading. As with all natural cottons there is a significant degree of shrinkage in the print process and in the use you may have for the material. Please accept 2-3 % shrinkage in the X and Y directions. To compensate, we suggest to allow a margin of shrinking in your design. Do this by adding more bleed area in your design. It is not an exact science and we cannot predict exactly how one lot of cotton prints will shrink to the next.

What Can I Make With My Cotton Print Fabric?

The opportunities are almost endless. Use the light Lima Cotton to make a pair of seasonal pyjamas. Due to the moisture wicking abilities, it can lock in heat as well as draw it away from the body, so bedtime will always be comfortable no matter what the weather. Or use the Cotton Twill, which is slightly thicker, to use for upholstery, scatter cushions or your craft projects.

Digital Printing on Cotton

This digital process gives your fabric a beautiful, slightly muted print that lasts far longer than other standard cotton printing techniques. It's slightly muted because of the natural fibres and zero chemicals used on the fabric. Your unique pattern is made from eco-friendly inks that are bonded with the fibres of your chosen cotton, meaning the print won't peel away or scratch off. Each individual cotton has its own base tone, ranging from brilliant white to muted ivory, giving your finished print a unique look.

In regards to the Pima Lawn, Cotton Linen and Janice Poplin Cotton, due to the nature of the fabric and our processing methods there can be occasional very small white dots where pieces of cotton fluff are removed revealing unprinted white base material. Please note that this is normal and cannot be avoided but won't affect the strong colours and detailed nature of your print.

Print Guideline

  • DPI-Print Guideline Icon

    What's the best resolution to print in?

    We print at 200dpi, which is a good combination of quality and file weight. Ideally, your image should be scaled to 100% at 200dpi; this means that no resizing of your file occurs, preventing any interpolation. Our design interface will have a quality marker next to the design that you have uploaded, this will change colour using a traffic light system and display a message. The message will let you know if the resolution is too low or if you have a good quality image. 

  • scaling-Print Guideline Icon

    How will my image scale?

    When you upload your design our system will automatically scale it to fit your chosen fabric dimensions. In the ‘Product Options’ tab, the displayed dimensions under ‘Print Size’ will show the dimensions of the piece of fabric that you are ordering. For image/design dimensions you need to see the ‘Images & Text Tools’ tab. You can see and edit the dimensions of the image under the quality information next to the thumbnail.

  • RGB-CMYK Print Guideline Icon

    Which colour model should I choose? RGB or CMYK?

    We advise providing images in the RGB colour space. Specifically using the sRGB image profile, to achieve best colour results. What does this mean? In your editing software choose RGB as the working space, and assign the image profile as sRGB (full name sRGB IEC61966-2.1)

  • Print-Roll Length Fabric Guide Icon

    Maximum dimensions

    For most of our fabrics, there is no limit on the length of the fabric that you can order. We have a preview design window set up to 10m max to visualise the print, but that's not a print limit. If you'd like to order more, increase the quantity (x2 for 20m or x4 for 40m for example) and then you can order as much as you'd like, with a built-in automatic volume discount too. The maximum print width of each fabric can be found on the individual fabric pages or in our design interface.

  • Borders-Print Guideline Icon

    Do I need to incorporate white space within my design if I want a border or some cutting space?

    Yes, that might help you! Always incorporate any extra space or boarders into your purchased fabric size. We trim squarely around fabric samples and fabric prints, leaving approximately 5mm white space. Cutting neatly on the line has an additional fee.

  • crocking-Print Guideline Icon

    What is crocking and why might it occur?

    Crocking, which is fading along the creases, often after washing or heavy use, occurs when you digitally print on natural fabrics - more so when dark or dense colours are used. It can be minimised by using a cool hand wash instead of machine washing as the tumbling of the machine is the main cause of this. To avoid entirely, we would advise using a poly fabric.

  • organics-Print Guideline Icon

    Why do my colours appear lighter on organic fabrics?

    Our organic fabrics do not have any coatings that the non-organic fabrics have. This means the ink absorbs into the fibres, reducing the colour strength slightly (by approx. -40%). For super strong colours we recommend a non-organic natural fabric.

  • Transfer-Print Guideline Icon

    Do you print on fabric a customer supplies?

    Unfortunately not; we like to test meticulously so that we know what gets best results on our fabrics, and our facilities cater perfectly to them. We do however print sublimation paper to order, and if you have access to a heat press you can press your own fabrics easily.

  • Jpeg-Tiff Print Guideline Icon

    Should I save my file as a TIFF or JPEG?

    For multi-coloured or very detailed files we recommend using a tiff format, but they must be flattened. For simple colours and low detail files, a jpeg is fine.

  • Shrinkage-Print Guideline Icon

    What is the situation with material shrinkage?

    Just like many fabric printing processes, there is the potential for shrinkage. Depending on the fabric, please expect and allow between 2-8% shrinkage which you need to plan for in your dimensions. This percentage can vary from print run to print run and between fabrics, so we would advise ordering a little more material than you require for your project. 

  • Print-Both Sides Print Guideline Icon

    Can I print on both sides of the fabric?

    We do not offer to print on both sides of the fabric. A lot of our fabrics are semi-transparent or have some show through and this wouldn't work with double-sided printing. This is not a service that we offer on any of our fabrics.

  • Labels-Print Guideline Icon

    Can I order labels in another fabric? Would you cut them as you do with the normal fabric labels?

    At the moment no, our labels are all printed on the same satin fabric. We may introduce more in the future, but for now, this is the best choice. The labels are all cut the same way. You can order the fabric of your choice and make the labels yourself, but we do not cut different fabric into label format.

  • Eco friendly Printing

    How is your fabric printing eco-friendly?

    With environmental consciousness in mind, our fabrics are all printed using completely water-based inks. This means no chemicals or solvents are used. Our heat fixing procedure fixes the colours and prints, avoiding the downsides of steaming, such as excess or contaminated water returning into the waste system. We have one facility in London where we conduct all the printing, production and fulfilment. Rather than roll the fabrics, or send them in a tube, we fold them before they are sent out to you. This saves over 150 tubes a week, as well as a lot of space on the delivery van. (For delicate fabrics we ensure to package appropriately).

  • colour palette

    Why are there slight colour differences between my orders?

    We work at improving our colour profiles all the time. Though rare it may happen that from one print run to another, and there could be slight colour differences, this is normal and part of the process when we are constantly improving. It is extremely unlikely that there will be a huge difference (like orange instead of red for example). Please bear in mind such colour variations can be intensified from fabric to fabric due to the varying grains and textures of the fabric; natural fabrics tend to have more muted colours than their poly alternatives. This is due to the construction of the materials as well as the print methods that have to be altered slightly for more delicate, natural textiles.




Sizing For Hemming And Shrinkage

Hemming Options ICON

We have a full Cut & Sew service here at Bags of Love, and are able to hem your fabric prints for a small additional charge. We create a small one- or two-fold hem that typically uses 5 to 20mm of material, depending on the thickness of the fabric. So, for example, if you want a finished piece of fabric that measures 100 x 100cm, you will need to order a size of 101.5cm x 101.5cm to allow for the hem (on top of that please also allow for shrinkage of min 2%). The thicker the fabric, the bigger the hem will be. You can choose to have your prints hemmed with either Black or White thread. On our silk and other light woven fabrics, one hemmed edge will be straight (vertically down the roll) and the other will be slightly rippled. The hemming material allowances are as follows and you need to make your print bigger to accommodate the hem:

  • Light Fabrics (20-100gsm): For silks and other light fabrics, we use 6-8mm in the hem (2 fold), so overall width/height will be minus 12-16mm
  • Medium Fabrics (101-200gsm): For medium-weight fabrics that fray, we use 15-20mm in the hem (2 fold) so overall width/height will be minus 35-40mm
  • Stiff/Heavy/No-fray fabrics: we use 15-20mm in the hem (1 fold) so overall width/height will be minus 35-40mm
All of these measurements are approximate and can vary. Including with shrinkage, it can mean a fairly significant difference to ordered dimensions, so please plan your print accordingly. Depending on how open the weave is, our fabric can shrink anywhere from 2% to 8% with the average being 2.5%.
 

How Would you Like the Edge?

We have four finishing options for your fabric order: 
  • As it comes. We cut around your image, leaving a simply scissor cut, perhaps uneven white fabric border. 
  • Hem with thread. We can hem your fabric with a choice of black or white thread. Please allow 1-2 days of additional production time. See below for information on how hemming affects the size of your print. We offer an overlock hem, as well as a folded hem (one or two fold depending on the fabric) however not all fabrics, are suited to both hem types. If you can see both options, it means both are suitable, and you will be able to choose whichever you prefer. 
  • Cut on the line. We will cut neatly on the edge of your design. This means that if you have a border around your design we will cut around that border, if your design takes the whole space of the fabric, then we will neatly cut around the edge of that image. Please be aware, when we cut along the line, we have to cut against the grain of the fabric. This is the standard procedure for fabric cutting. This means that with some fabrics, for example, Georgette and Mulmul, which have a slight wave in them, some fraying will occur. This is unavoidable, as the cut follows the grain of the textile. 
All of our fabrics are cut manually by hand, with the utmost care and attention. If your fabric has a slightly uneven look on the edges or a touch of fraying, this does not indicate a flaw in the textile. It is not always possible to achieve a perfect straight cut with certain fabrics, so please do bear this in mind when it comes to your design. If you have any queries or would like to know about our cutting methods in more detail, please get in touch and we will be more than happy to discuss them with you. 

For further information about our fabrics see our FAQs

Please note: As everything we provide is handmade to order, you may find a slight variance in the sizes. 

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