Embroidered photos are the next big craft project we can’t get enough of! Inspired by Robert Mahar’s photo embroidery workshop at Craftcation, we’re showing you how to prep your photos for printing on fabric. Whether you want to embroider one large photo or a collection of smaller photos, this DIY project is a family heirloom in the making. The tutorial below will show you how to use Adobe® Photoshop® or the free program Canva to place all of your photos on one file to print on a fat quarter of Linen Cotton Canvas, Robert’s go-to embroidery fabric from Spoonflower. 

How to Print Your Photos on Fabric for Embroidery | Spoonflower Blog

Printing family photos on fabric is a great way to safely store cherished memories, but when not utilizing his own personal photographs, Robert often turns to institutions like the public library—many of which have digitized large portions of their holdings for public use.

It’s always a good idea to read the fine print when it comes to online photographs—search for imagery that is copyright-free and in the public domain. The New York Public Library has digitized thousands of images that are free to access and Robert uses their Public Domain Collections which contains photographs that can be used without permissions or restrictions. 

Similarly, the British Library has released millions of images into the public domain on their Flickr account—making them free to use, remix and repurpose.  It may take some digging, but there are gems to be found! 

How to Print Your Photos on Fabric for Embroidery | Spoonflower Blog
How to Print Your Photos on Fabric for Embroidery | Spoonflower Blog

Robert’s Photo Tips and Tricks

  • I recommend using photographs that are no smaller than 4″ x 6″.
  • Crisp, clear photographs work best for printing on fabric.
  • Both formal (think school photos or family studio portraits) as well as candid shots work well.
  • Consider leaving at least 1” of blank space between photographs when arranging in your design program them rather than butting them against one another. This will give you room to separate the images post-embroidery for display.
  • Color or black and white images will work well for this project, but keep in mind that there will be a greater contrast between black and white images and colorful embroidery floss.

Part 1: Digitize Your Family Photos 

Before you can dive in and get creative with your fabric photos, you’ll need to digitize your photos if they aren’t already in digital form. You can do this two different ways: 

Scan your photos using a flatbed scanner at the highest resolution (300 DPI or higher). If you don’t own a scanner, we recommend visiting your local copy shop. Be sure to save your images as a JPG or PNG.

Take a well-lit, high-quality photo of your photo. Set-up an area in your home where there is good, natural light free of shadows and snap a picture of your photograph. On a nice day, consider taking your photos outside. A DSLR or camera with high resolution works great for taking pictures, but if you only have access to a smart phone, that should also do the trick! 

Now that you have your photos digitized, it’s time to set-up your photo canvas for printing on a fat quarter of Linen Cotton Canvas on Spoonflower. While there are a few different ways you can format your photos, today we’ll be highlighting how to do it in Photoshop and Canva.

How to Print Your Photos on Fabric for Embroidery | Spoonflower Blog

Part 2: Create a Photo Canvas

Photoshop

  1. Create a canvas that is 27” x 18” (the size of a Spoonflower Linen Cotton Canvas fat quarter) at 150 dpi. 
  2. To add a photo, Select File > Place Embedded and select the photograph you want to add to your file. 
  3. Once the photo is on your canvas, resize it by selecting Edit > Transform > Scale and adjust the photo as necessary. Double click the image or select Enter on your keyboard once the changes have been made. 
  4. If your photos are on the darker side, you may want to adjust the contrast of the photo to ensure it prints with enough contrast on fabric. To adjust the contrast in your photo, select your image and then Images > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast.  
  5. Repeat for the remaining photos. 
  6. Once you’ve added all of the photos to your canvas, save your file as a Photoshop file (PSD) so you can edit in the future as necessary.
  7. Resave the file as a JPG or PNG. 
  8. Login to your Spoonflower account and upload your design
  9. Select Linen Cotton Canvas and Fat Quarter in the drop down menu and add to your cart! 

Canva

  1. Login to your Canva account and select the Create a Design button and then choose the Custom Dimensions option. Make sure the dropdown menu is set to pixels (px), enter your canvas dimensions in the box and select Create Design. For a fat quarter of Linen Cotton Canvas, we’ve set our canvas to be 4050 pixels x 2700 pixels.
  2. To add a photo, select the Uploads icon on the left side of your screen and select “Upload an image or video”. Next, double click on the image you’d like to add to your canvas from your computer. Drag and drop your image onto your canvas. 
  3. If your photos are on the darker side, you may want to adjust the contrast of the photo to ensure it prints with enough contrast on fabric. To adjust the contrast in your photo, select your image and then Adjust > Contrast
  4. Repeat for the remaining photos. 
  5. Download the file as a PNG.
  6. Login to your Spoonflower account and upload your design
  7. Select Linen Cotton Canvas and Fat Quarter in the drop-down menu, add it to your cart and purchase!
  8. When your fabric arrives, it’s time to stitch!

Uploading photos to Spoonflower.

Find more embroidery projects from Robert on the blog!

Turn your embroidery art into a patch | Spoonflower Blog
5 ways to personalize a map with embroidery | Spoonflower Blog