Printing on Towelling Fabric

One of our most popular fabrics, the Tender Terry Towelling Fabric Printing is not only a technical fabric but a beautiful one too. Try your own printing on terry toweling fabric or develop your range of towels and robes.

Surface textures

Tender Terry Towelling is the perfect fusion between technical microfibre and natural cotton. To achieve a highly detailed and colorful print the face is made from lightweight quick-drying microfiber. A classic cotton terry loop back provides additional absorbent properties. The fibers are highly tactile and snug, perfect for wrapping yourself up in. The Tender Towelling has a soft comfortable drape that molds itself easily and takes on any shape, returning to its natural state without creases or compromise. Immediately after our processing, it has a compressed look, but this fluffs up quickly with use.

Print detail

Colors are bold and are provided with great contrast to the crisp white base. The microfiber face ensures a bold and rich print. Due to the fibrous nature of the material its surface area is not completely even, appearing slightly ribbed. This does not take away from the excellent detail and stunning colors printing on terry toweling will produce.

Usage

Due to its highly water-absorbent nature, the material lends itself to a host of practical uses around the house, for making beach towels and promotional towels too. When it comes to wearables, it’s perfect for making into robes, and therefore the obvious choice for towels and other bathroom furnishings, accessories. It’s an ideal material for face cloths, washcloths and even baby accessories like bibs and burp cloths.

Sizing For Hemming And Shrinkage

We have a full Cut & Sew service here at Contrado, 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 0.2" to 0.75" (5-20mm) of material, depending on the thickness of the fabric. So, for example, if you want a finished piece of fabric that measures 39.37" x 39.37", you will need to order a size of 39.96" x 39.96" 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 (0.59oz-2.95oz): For silks and other light fabrics, we use 0.24" - 0.32" / 6mm-8mm in the hem (2 fold), so overall width/height will be minus 0.48"-0.56""/ 12-16mm
• Medium Fabrics (2.98oz-5.90oz): For medium-weight fabrics that fray, we use 0.5 - 0.75" / 15-20mm in the hem (2 fold) so overall width/height will be minus 1.4" - 1.6" / 35-40mm
• Stiff/Heavy/No-fray fabrics: we use 0.5 - 0.75" / 15-20mm in the hem (1 fold) so overall width/height will be minus 1.5" / 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?

• 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 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 perfectly straight cut with certain fabrics, so please do bare 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.

Please note: As we make everything by hand, all sizes may vary slightly.

For further information about our fabrics see our FAQs.

Is this material water absorbent?

Yes. The back of the towel is made from cotton terry which is naturally super absorbent. The fabric face is made from microfiber which is absorbent as well as quick drying. These properties make the Tender Terry Towelling perfect to create towels, washcloths, and other absorbent accessories.

Does the fabric crease or crumple easily?

It doesn't crease much at all, but if it does, just give it a wash and let it hang dry. It is iron and steam safe, so you can return your fabric to its fluffy glory.

Is there a minimum amount of fabric you have to order?

There is no minimum, but we would suggest not making an order smaller than 40" x 20" as that is the fixed price starting point for fabric printing. If you would like a small sample, order a test print with your own patterns and designs or order a swatch book full of our printed samples.