A shower curtain is the perfect gift for a friend, or yourself, that will be enjoyed year-round! Read on to learn how Spoonflower crew member Eloisa created an engineered shower curtain using Silky Faille!

Update: Eloisa is using Spoonflower’s Silky Faille, which is no longer available for purchase, but you can still follow this tutorial and create an awesome shower curtain with our new Recycled Canvas!

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Looking to make a shower curtain, a mural, or any project with an image wider than the fabrics we offer? If so, this tutorial is right for you! With these instructions, we will teach you how to break up your image so we can print multiple pieces of fabrics that, when pieced together, will complete the large image. We chose to make a shower curtain, but these instructions can be easily adapted to wall murals, one-image duvet covers, etc. 

An important note on image size: the first thing to consider is that Spoonflower has an upload image size limitation of 40MB. You might need to tinker and edit your image if it is larger than this.

A typical shower curtain measures 70×70 inches {177.8×177.8cms}. For this tutorial, we will be using Silky Faille, a fabric that does not stretch, is medium weight, prints beautifully, and has a printable width of 54 inches.

Things you will need:

  • Adobe Photoshop, if you do not have Photoshop, a free 30 day trial version can be downloaded here. This tutorial requires a basic understanding of Photoshop.
  • A large scale image {at least 30×30 inches at 300DPI, or an image created at 70×70 inches, 150DPI}
STEP1 (1)

STEP 1: You will need to do a little math, for this tutorial, since we are making an image that measures 70×70 inches and using material that has a width of 54 inches. We are going to center one piece, and add a panel on each side to complete the 70 inches, these panels should measure 9 inches each. They will be broken like the image above.

STEP2 (1)

STEP 2: Create a NEW FILE {click on FILE, then NEW} in Photoshop measuring the total width and length of the final project you are creating. Then, use the GUIDES to mark where the panels will go. For this tutorial, we created an image measuring 70″x70″/150DPI, and marked the guides at 9” on each side, this gave us a 54” piece in the center. We will refer to this image as IMAGE-1 in this tutorial.  

STEP3

STEP 3: Without closing the image you just created, OPEN your large scale image. We will refer to this image as IMAGE-2 in this tutorial.

STEP4

STEP 4: SELECT ALL on your large scale image, and COPY the image. Then, go to your IMAGE-1 that is waiting for you with the guides, and PASTE the design.

STEP5

STEP 5: SELECT the area within the center of the guides, then COPY this area.

STEP6

STEP 6: Create a NEW FILE with this area you just copied into your clipboard. The new file will automatically offer to be the size of this copied file. PASTE the area in your new file. In this case, the file is 54”x70”/150DPI.. Proceed to SAVE it {JPG/JPEG or PNG work well for creating large scale files under 40MB}.

STEP7

STEP 7: Go back to IMAGE-1, and select the first side panel, using your guides.

STEP8

STEP 8: Create a NEW FILE, the same feature will occur as STEP 6–you will be prompted to create a new image the entire size of what you copied. In this case, please alter the width to 2-3 times the width of the panel, or create it the same width as the fabric you are using. In this case, we will enter 54″ on the width. PASTE the copied panel there. Repeat these steps and paste the second panel in the same image. SAVE it following the same guidelines as STEP 6.

STEP 9: Upload your images to your Spoonflower account, set the repeat to CENTER, use the SAVE THIS LAYOUT BUTTON, and order your fabric!

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For the shower curtain, you will need to order 2 yards of each image.  Once you receive the fabric, you will trim the center image fabric on the edges, cut the side panels separate and trim, then sew the pieces together to create the image. We made button holes on the top of our shower curtain, but you can use other methods like tab tops and metal grommets!

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