Author Archives: maria

What is Natural Fabric?

Natural fabric is woven or knitted from fibres that occur in our natural world. All three sectors of nature; animal, vegetable and mineral produce fibres that can be used in fabric production.

printing on natural fabrics, digital printing on fabrics, cotton, linen, custom fabric printing, natural fabric printing, digital fabrics
Vegetable, or more commonly classed cellulose-based fibres, include cotton, flax, jute, hemp and bamboo. Each fibre type is derived from a specific part of the plant such seed hair, stem, leaf, husk etc. and consist mainly of cellulose substance.
Animal fibres include wool and silk and consist exclusively of proteins. While wool fabric is most commonly produced from the fleece of sheep, it also includes fleece from alpacas. The hairs or fibres of other animals are also constructed into fabric including rabbit fur, angora fabric and mohair.
Silk is the other notable fibre from an animal, but unlike other animal fibres, it is not made from the hair or fur covering the animal. It is the continuous thread of the spun cocoon of moth larvae. An extensive process is required to produce one silk fibre and in turn, produce silk fabric maintaining its exclusive divine nature.
Mineral fibres are less widely used in production for fashion or interior fabrics but can still be used in an industrial application. Fine drawn threads of metallic fibres can be used on regular textile machinery and are often spun or woven in combination with other fibres to make a length of fabric for industrial use.

What is Polyester Fabric?

Essentially polyester is a man-made synthetic plastic resin substance. Polyester can be produced in sheet form, for items like PET bottles, or fibre form for all kind of textiles.
Polyester fabrics are heat sensitive and can be manipulated with high heat and pressure such as giving the fabric permanent pleats, laser cut with patterns and shapes. Polyester fibres can be produced in various forms allowing the manufactured fabric to imitate characteristics of fabrics traditionally produced in natural fibres.

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Polyester fabrics are highly stain resistant and there is only one particular type of dyes that can alter the colour or polyester fabrics, known as disperse dyes. While these dyes can be applied to the fabric in several ways, the most common way is by dye-sublimation. Dyes are printed onto a paper substrate which is then pressed into the fabric using high temperatures and pressure. The pressing process bonds the dyes to the polyester fibres of the fabric meaning that they will never fade or wear.
Polyester fibres can also be recycled, using less energy than virgin polyester and less water than organic natural fibre production, which leads to some considering recycled polyester (rPET) a sustainable fabric for future generations. The fabric printing method of dye-sublimation is a completely dry process has no water usage and while the paper is a waste by product, all dye is absorbed by the fabric leaving no dye waste.

What is Natural Fabric?

Natural fabric is woven or knitted from fibres that occur in our natural world. All three sectors of nature; animal, vegetable and mineral produce fibres that can be used in fabric production.

printing on natural fabrics, digital printing on fabrics, cotton, linen, custom fabric printing, natural fabric printing, digital fabrics
Vegetable, or more commonly classed cellulose-based fibres, include cotton, flax, jute, hemp and bamboo. Each fibre type is derived from a specific part of the plant such seed hair, stem, leaf, husk etc. and consist mainly of cellulose substance.
Animal fibres include wool and silk and consist exclusively of proteins. While wool fabric is most commonly produced from the fleece of sheep, it also includes fleece from alpacas. The hairs or fibres of other animals are also constructed into fabric including rabbit fur, angora fabric and mohair.
Silk is the other notable fibre from an animal, but unlike other animal fibres, it is not made from the hair or fur covering the animal. It is the continuous thread of the spun cocoon of moth larvae. An extensive process is required to produce one silk fibre and in turn, produce silk fabric maintaining its exclusive divine nature.
Mineral fibres are less widely used in production for fashion or interior fabrics but can still be used in an industrial application. Fine drawn threads of metallic fibres can be used on regular textile machinery and are often spun or woven in combination with other fibres to make a length of fabric for industrial use.

Learn and Explore

If you have a curious mind and would love to learn a new skill or extend your current knowledge, you can learn more about textile design and fabric design set up for digital fabric printing with us.

Explore our options, we have put together multiple textile design tutorials for setting up files and repeats. These might be very helpful to you to start off setting up your design. All you need is a bit of basic skills in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.

Seamless repeats tutorials

Cushions artwork basic set up

WE ARE LOOKING FOR INTERN

Digital Fabrics fabric printing natural fabric printing

Our creative studio is growing and we are looking for a talented, enthusiastic and friendly intern with an opportunity to grow with us and join our team on a permanent basis after!

You will gain hands-on experience and will be fully involved in all aspects of the business such as
• Working with customers on finalizing and proofing orders and manage client relationships
• Sales face to face, online and over the phone
• Printing and pressing orders
• Working with suppliers and stock control
• Orders dispatch
• Graphic design
• Managing samples
• Managing the showroom
• Social media, blogging
And many more

So if this is you:

An awesome individual
Absolutely reliable with can do attitude
Have high work ethics and passionate about textiles
Fast learner with good communication skills
Have keen interest in the fashion and interior industry, with an eye for unique beautiful things, style and design
Up to date with Photoshop and Illustrator skills
Worked in Fashion or Interior Industry
Holding a Current driver’s license
Please send your best presentation to [email protected] and explain why you want to work at Digital Fabrics!

> You have to be physically fit as this position involves heavy lifting. We also work in a time sensitive environment and think and move quickly, we need you to as well.
> This is an unpaid internship with an opportunity for permanent position after.

Learn and Explore

If you have a curious mind and would love to learn a new skill or extend your current knowledge, you can learn more about textile design and fabric design set up for digital fabric printing with us.

Explore our options, we have put together multiple textile design tutorials for setting up files and repeats. These might be very helpful to you to start off setting up your design. All you need is a bit of basic skills in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.

Seamless repeats tutorials

Cushions artwork basic set up

5 Great Pattern Repeating Tutorials

Through dealing with a lot of creatives we came to realise that some are having difficulties on setting up their artwork digitally into a seamless repeat, so we decided to help and after research we have put together a small collection of useful tutorials in Photoshop and Illustrator. So if you are trying to wrap your head around repeating pattern, these are for you.

  1. A Beginner’s Guide to Digital Textile Printing (from Design.tutsplus.com)SeamlessRepeatTutorialDigitalFabricPrinting1//design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/a-beginners-guide-to-digital-textile-printing–vector-3189
  1. How to make a Repeat Pattern (from DesignSponge.com)SeamlessRepeatTutorialDigitalFabricPrinting2//www.designsponge.com/2008/05/welcome-julia-and-how-to-make-a-repeat-pattern.html

                                                                

  1. Exploring Photoshop: Designing Repeat Patterns (from Creative-Cloth.com)SeamlessRepeatTutorialDigitalFabricPrinting3//www.creative-cloth.com/photoshop-elements-tutorial-designing-repeat-patterns/


  1. Adobe Illustrator for Fashion and Textile design: Print for flat sketch (from Fashion Chalkboard)SeamlessRepeatTutorialDigitalFabricPrinting6Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HalcOTtxgo

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFV68tAi88k

  1. Create beautiful repeating Patterns (from DigitalArtsOnline.co.uk)SeamlessRepeatTutorialDigitalFabricPrinting4//www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/tutorials/illustration/create-beautiful-repeating-patterns/

WE ARE LOOKING FOR INTERN

Digital Fabrics fabric printing natural fabric printing

Our creative studio is growing and we are looking for a talented, enthusiastic and friendly intern with an opportunity to grow with us and join our team on a permanent basis after!

You will gain hands-on experience and will be fully involved in all aspects of the business such as
• Working with customers on finalizing and proofing orders and manage client relationships
• Sales face to face, online and over the phone
• Printing and pressing orders
• Working with suppliers and stock control
• Orders dispatch
• Graphic design
• Managing samples
• Managing the showroom
• Social media, blogging
And many more

So if this is you:

An awesome individual
Absolutely reliable with can do attitude
Have high work ethics and passionate about textiles
Fast learner with good communication skills
Have keen interest in the fashion and interior industry, with an eye for unique beautiful things, style and design
Up to date with Photoshop and Illustrator skills
Worked in Fashion or Interior Industry
Holding a Current driver’s license
Please send your best presentation to [email protected] and explain why you want to work at Digital Fabrics!

> You have to be physically fit as this position involves heavy lifting. We also work in a time sensitive environment and think and move quickly, we need you to as well.
> This is an unpaid internship with an opportunity for permanent position after.

5 Great Pattern Repeating Tutorials

Through dealing with a lot of creatives we came to realise that some are having difficulties on setting up their artwork digitally into a seamless repeat, so we decided to help and after research we have put together a small collection of useful tutorials in Photoshop and Illustrator. So if you are trying to wrap your head around repeating pattern, these are for you.

  1. A Beginner’s Guide to Digital Textile Printing (from Design.tutsplus.com)SeamlessRepeatTutorialDigitalFabricPrinting1//design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/a-beginners-guide-to-digital-textile-printing–vector-3189
  1. How to make a Repeat Pattern (from DesignSponge.com)SeamlessRepeatTutorialDigitalFabricPrinting2//www.designsponge.com/2008/05/welcome-julia-and-how-to-make-a-repeat-pattern.html

                                                                

  1. Exploring Photoshop: Designing Repeat Patterns (from Creative-Cloth.com)SeamlessRepeatTutorialDigitalFabricPrinting3//www.creative-cloth.com/photoshop-elements-tutorial-designing-repeat-patterns/


  1. Adobe Illustrator for Fashion and Textile design: Print for flat sketch (from Fashion Chalkboard)SeamlessRepeatTutorialDigitalFabricPrinting6Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HalcOTtxgo

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFV68tAi88k

  1. Create beautiful repeating Patterns (from DigitalArtsOnline.co.uk)SeamlessRepeatTutorialDigitalFabricPrinting4//www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/tutorials/illustration/create-beautiful-repeating-patterns/