I love it when my customers reach out to me to ask questions and tell me what they really want.

You have questions? I have answers!

A few days ago, a customer was confused by the coloration of the digital mockups provided by Zazzle. He asked for clarification on the depth and intensity of the color. Taking a look at these mockups, I think you can see why.

His question allowed me to explain that the mockups had been adjusted by Zazzle in an attempt to reflect how the ink dyes would print on the different types of fabric offered. Some fabrics will print darker and richer than others because of their fiber content.

As a result of our discussion, he decided to try this design on different fabrics.

Hopefully, one of these options works out for him.

Here’s the link to my Variegated Silver Green Ivy fabric design. The fabric options may be found in the sale panel to the right of the swatch.

In case you’re confused and wondering why I’m sharing fabric on Zazzle–I love it when my customers ask questions—

This design is also available for sale on Spoonflower as well.

To answer your question, Spoonflower and Zazzle use two very different printing processes.

Zazzle uses ink dyes for printing fabric. A dark saturated fabric design that is printed using ink dyes will be softer if it’s printed using Zazzle’s ink dyes instead of Spoonflower’s process. Spoonflower’s process seems to involve some kind of acrylic fixative added to the ink. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but more color saturation creates a stiffer printed surface.

Spoonflower’s process is better overall for light colored designs. And, with darker/brighter/bolder colors, it works best for upholstery and other applications that must be hard-wearing and fade resistant.

Zazzle’s process is better for darker/brighter/bolder designs on fabrics intended for clothing and other uses where the texture of the fabric needs to stay softer.

Both printing processes work fairly well for designs with medium color tones. Zazzle’s process does not work well at all with very light colors.

To shop more of my fabric designs on Zazzle, please visit: https://www.zazzle.com/collections/fabric_by_ms_contrary-119308280632262896?rf=238389529266301639

To shop more of my botanical fabric designs on Spoonflower, please visit: https://www.spoonflower.com/collections/429822-botanical-by-ms__contrary

Do you have more questions? Please feel free to contact me.

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Please note: All Zazzle links used on this site are Affiliate links. In a perfect world, when you click through on these links and purchase my designs, I would receive referral credit for your purchase. Sadly, this outcome is unlikely unless you’ve never shopped on Zazzle before, except in the event that you clear your browser cookies before clicking through. Ah, well. Whether or not I receive referral credit, I do still receive a (small) royalty percentage on each purchase.

Spoonflower links are not Affiliate links, and I only receive royalties for sales on Spoonflower.