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Making Paper towel blankets


Minis On The Edge

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Okay, I have been told that you can make Quilt, blankets and rugs simply by printing patterns on single ply paper towels. I finally tried today (Thought it would get stuck but it did not).

It turned out very nice BUT, there are steps I am missing. It seems like people did something with glue to make it look like a worn cotton quilt. Does anyone know the steps to doing this?

Thanks so much!

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Ruby, I heard about this a little over 1 year ago and thought I had saved the instructions. Well if I did, I can't find them now :D :lol: .

I have a HP G55 Office Jet (It's about 7 years old).

It worked so good the color is vibrant and it looks good as it is but I would like to give it the "worn" look. I hope someone knows how to do this :blink: . I am so pleased that it did not stick. It shows me that I should take peoples word for things and stop being a "smart Butt" :p .

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Can we see pictures?!

A trick for making paper rugs look like cloth is to glue one ply of a Kleenex onto the top. Could you try doing that on the top of the paper towel (after you print on it)?

Another thing you could try is making the colors on the picture a little more dull in Photoshop or whatever paint program you use. Add brightness to the image, or more yellow.

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I've never tried it on paper towels, but I print on muslin quite a lot to make labels for my artwork.

To print on muslin, lay a piece of muslin on the waxy (shiny) side of a piece of freezer paper and iron it. The iron makes the wax melt and adhere the fabric to the paper. Once the fabric is adhered to the freezer paper, trim it so the edges are even and it's a normal 8.5x11 size. Then run it thru your printer just as you would any other paper, with the fabric side toward the jets. After it's printed, peel the fabric off the paper. I use unbleached muslin to get a homespun look. I haven't tried it on a mini yet, but a quilt is on my list of things to do for the librarian's cottage.

It might work on paper towels too if you use a towel with a high fiber content and a low heat on the iron. I'm not sure about how well the paper towel will hold up to being peeled off the freezer paper, but it might be worth a try. The wax really isn't a strong adhesive.........it just holds it well enough to get the fabric thru the printer.

Hope that helps,

Deb

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A trick for making paper rugs look like cloth is to glue one ply of a Kleenex onto the top.

I had read that tip when you're using a magazine picture of a rug, you dip the single ply of tissue into diluted white glue and gently smooth it over the rug picture and when it's dry it has a fabric finish. I would think the paper towel quilt already has a fabric finish.

I think you could dip the paper towel quilt into the diluted glue solution to get it to drape realistically (or to fold). Cover whatever you'll put it on with plastic food srap until it has dried (bed, quilt rack, whatever).

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Okay, I'll take pictures after I test a little more. These are the 2 different instructions I have (I found them in my word file LOL)

cover the printed front of the quilts with a one ply paper towel or facial tissue.

use quick dry tacky glue.

Crumple it and then smoothed out the quilt while the glue was still wet.

Let dry

The second instructions say:

Take a copied print of a quilt. - any picture will do.

Glue it to the paper towel (tacky glue). - glue the colored, quilt side to

the paper towel

Peel the back layer of towel off (one ply of it) - this will make it look a little faded and worn.

Scrunch, smooth out, repeat until it looks like fabric.

I know there is another one which says print on 1 ply paper towel and it seems like it said to use tacky glue or something.

I'm still looking for that one!

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Okay you two! I took a picture of what I got so far ( which is still just a printed 1 ply paper towel :lol: )

The next part is what I am lacking. I think I have to start asking around on some other forums cause now I really want to see this through. It came out nice. It just the fact that it is a paper towel (not sturdy enough :) ).

post-4-1133379403_thumb.jpg

I have not cut it from the towel yet either ;)

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The rug looks very nice, I hope you can find out how to stiffen it. The colors are great and the texture looks good. We will all wait patiently while you find the finishing answers.

Peggi

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Yes WOW is the right word for it!

Hmm, having another HP printer I think it might work for me as well. Love the look of it, have you sealed the colours somehow?

Mini-hugs

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I have not sealed it or anything (not yet anyway :lol: ). It did not bleed or anything. I will play with it more soon. This is not the pattern I like a lot but I want blankets and such arround my Mckinley. This seems to be a quick fast way to bring patterns and such together. If I can do curtains and sheets and pillows like this, hubby will have a fit when I start buying color ink every two weeks LOL.

I will keep Y'all posted. ;) :)

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When I read the first note I though.. hmm.. interresting.. but wow! That looks pretty darn good!! And the other steps are supposed to make it look better? I Had no idea anything that nice might come out of a printer and a sheet of paper towel.. now I'm gonna have to try it.

-David

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Alot of what this sounds like is something similar in the magazine Somerset Studios called image transfer--and that technique is much harder than this!

A couple of ways you could probably age it is to use some sepia modge podge in different places on the paper towel to promote age. And seal it with a craft spray sealer, to give it stability.

Holly's idea, of glueing it to an old handkerchief is good. Cardstock would probably work as well, after all, paper towels are just paper. For making the quilts why not let the ink dry, spray it with a sealer, and let it sit overnight--then if you wish to drape it, soak it in Stiffen Stuff and drape however you wish, I did this in my Paper bag curtain how to in the Miniature Gazette issue that just came out.

Tracey, this looks really great! I wonder if this would work on my Epson?

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