Spoonflower crew member Emma visits the blog to share how to create a fabric poster– perfect for conferences, meetings and lectures!

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Tired of hauling an unwieldy paper poster in a giant cardboard tube to conferences, lectures and meetings? Using Spoonflower, you can print your poster on a lightweight, wrinkle-free fabric that’s easy to tuck into a suitcase or toss into a backpack! Your fabric poster will have crisp images and vibrant colors, travel easily, never crease or tear, and can be used again and again… for less than the price of a traditional paper poster!

If you’re using PowerPoint, the process is easy, just 4 easy steps. All you need to do is:

  1. Decide how big you’d like your final poster to be
  2. Create your poster in Powerpoint at half that size 
  3. Save your image as a PDF
  4. Convert that PDF to a 300 dpi JPG

If you’re using another program, like Adobe InDesign or Photoshop, you can create your image at full size and skip the last 2 steps. Just multiply your height and width each by 150 to figure out how many pixels you’ll need.

So, for a 36 inch tall poster, size it at 5400 pixels, or 36 inches at 150 dpi.

PowerPoint can’t handle images quite that big, so read on for a detailed, illustrated step-by-step for PowerPoint users.

First, decide how big you want your poster to be. I decided 42” wide by 36” tall will work for my poster and fit on a yard of almost any of Spoonflowers’ fabrics. I created a new PowerPoint file and selected “Page Setup” under the “File” menu.

PowerPoint has a limit on how large an image you can create, so I entered half the size of my poster (I want it to be 42 x 36 when finished) in the Page Setup menu.

You might get a warning that this size is larger than printable area of your paper–just click “ok”.

Then, go ahead and create your poster! Once you’ve finished and you’re ready to save, click “Save as” under the “File” menu. When the menu opens, select “PDF” from the dropdown menu and save your poster.

Since Spoonflower doesn’t accept PDF files for printing, you’ll need to save your image as a JPEG file that has 300 pixels per inch (300 dpi). The easiest way to do that is upload your file to an online conversion site, that will instantly convert your PDF into a JPEG.

I like this site, www.convert-my-image.com. Just select “300 dpi” and upload the PDF you’ve just created. You can ignore ‘Paper size’, the last field.

If you’d rather not use a website to convert your file and you have a Mac, you can also open your image in Preview, Apple’s default image software, and click “Export” under the “File” menu. Then export your file as a 300 dpi JPEG.

Once you have your JPEG, you’re ready to upload it to Spoonflower. Sign into your account, and click “Create” to get started.

I decided to print my image on Spoonflower’s Performance Knit fabric. It’s wrinkle-free, and won’t stretch or distort. It’s got a bit of stretch to it, but it doesn’t fray, so you won’t need to hem it or sew the edges. You can also use Spoonflower’s Silky Faille if you want a non-stretch, woven fabric.

Select “centered” to get just one instance of your poster centered on the yard, and add it to your cart.

To fit on one yard, your poster can be up to 36 inches tall and 54 inches wide. If you’d like a bigger poster, you’ll want to rotate it 90 degrees so that it’s sideways, and then upload your file. Select the number of yards you need to ensure that your whole poster is visible in the preview, add it to your cart, and you’re all set!

One yard of Spoonflower knit weighs about the same as a t-shirt or two, so you can just toss it in your luggage if you’re traveling to a conference, give it a good shake when you arrive, and pin it to a wall or display board. You’re ready to share your research with the world, wherever you go!