Aida selections generally come in white, black, grey or every pale shade of pastel under the sun. But what if you want something that’ll pop? What about something with a design on it? Well saddle up, cos we’re about to go on a ride. It turns out, your average home color printer can create awesome aida in no time flat!
WonderStrange worked out all the hard work for us, but the technique is actually pretty simple. Cut your plain aida (you should use white) down to A4 size, put some freezer paper on the back (its sticky on one side) and put it in your printer. Print whatever you want and you have yourself an epic, custom bit of aida.
Wondering why you need the freezer paper? Turns out those holes make a serious mess unless something is behind it!
Finally, if you want a pure color for aida, you can also try painting it.
What is freezer paper? I’m UK, we have greasproof paper for baking but I have never heard of freezer paper.
It’s a plastic coated paper. You should be able to pick it up in super markets, but also hobby stores like Hobbycraft (we’re based in the UK too!)
Can you do this with just a pattern? I have bought printable aida and want to transfer a complex pattern, that I have created from a photo, onto the fabric so that I can see the pattern marked up on the aida and then sew it. I cannot find any articles on this? I realise I will need to make the pattern the same size as the aida, I will do it myself and work it out as I cannot accept that I can’t do something but I wondered if anyone has any experience of it, I have seen the “Did you know you can print on aida” article but my pattern is much more complex than this.
Yes, you can. Essentially, that’s what a printed cross stitch pattern is!
But it is VERY complicated. You’d need the pattern to be the correct size to get the count correct, but you’d also need to line up the ‘cells’ of the aida with the pixels you were trying to print. It’s going to be very hit-and-miss, and you’re likely to have to try many times before getting it right.
I know there are companies out there that will print patterns on aida for you. I would probably suggest these are a better option (and likely cheaper overall) than trying to print it yourself.
Does it only work with inkjet printers or will it also work with a color laser printer?
I’ve tested it on a black and white laser printer, and it works OK-ish. What I would say is that if there is a large amount of color (which is likely), just be aware of the heat being created and make sure it doesn’t catch fire!
Thanks! I will request the resident system admin (husband) if I can wreck our printer in the name of scientific experimentation…
Hahaha! We take no responsibility for broken printers! 😛