WWQP Bulletin Board

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Color Dots on Selvedge

Is there a special name for the little color dots on the selvedge of print fabrics?
Is there a separate printing for each of the dots? Any other "secrets" these dots hold?
Thank you for your help! Harriet

posted by quilter522 @ 3:14 PM  

5 Comments:

  • At June 20, 2007 at 3:42 PM , Blogger Beth in TN said...

    I'm not sure whether the fabric dots have a specific name, but in the printing industry, guides like that are called the register marks. They are used to make sure all the elements in the various colors are lined up correctly and came out the right hue. When you see a series of dots, it indicates that that many different colors were created from a series of passes of different dyes. So you may have a blue, and a yellow, and then a green that was created from the blue and yellow. When they don't quite hit the target circle, you will see that the pattern in the print is off somewhere,because the circles are there to see that each pass was lined up the same. I'm going by what happens in printing ink on paper; I'm only guessing it is the same or nearly the same in printing dye on fabric.

     

  • At June 20, 2007 at 4:22 PM , Blogger quilter522 said...

    Beth,
    Thank you for your good help and description. Didn't know (or think about) the circles also being used to line up the print. Harriet

     

  • At June 20, 2007 at 8:49 PM , Blogger Judy in Ohio said...

    Harriet, if you go to http://www.cranstonvillage.com/about/aboutHowMade.aspx?id=74 you can read the Cranston Print Works explanation of how they print their fabrics and you'll see how many rollers are needed to get the many colors on the fabrics. Those registration dots are part of the process of making sure the rollers are lined up correctly before things are allowed to "fly" so to speak.

    Judy

     

  • At June 20, 2007 at 9:49 PM , Blogger quilter522 said...

    I did go to that web site and read through all 9 pages or so. Fascinating.....would recommend others have a look. Thank you for pointing it out. Harriet

     

  • At June 23, 2007 at 4:00 PM , Blogger NancyH said...

    I read a hint once that you could use those dots to pick colors to coordinate with that fabric, since those are the dyes used in the print. NancyH

     

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