Brother PrintModa Studio Fabric Printer

Great as intended

Such an expensive disappointment. Top picture was printed with the Printmoda on Brother Printmoda Fabric, bottom was printed on a Canon Pixma on the Brother fabric. A cheaper inkjet printer yields better results than the ‘fabric priner’

First off, this is pretty cool. It's easy to set up, the print quality exceeded my expectations, and it's mostly easy to use. I say mostly easy, because they want you to use a special app for it, which is only available on mobile devices, and it would be easier to work with on a desktop computer. The app is currently free to use, but you can pay to get access to extra patterns and templates. I've printed a few things with the ink it came with, and it's lasted fairly well. The fabric sample that comes with it is very short, though. And speaking of that, Brother is the only company that makes that type of fabric roll and it's quite expensive. There are reasons why; it takes ink jet ink very well, and it has a removable plastic backing to help it go through the printer properly, but still... Check the cost of the fabric roll before you commit. There are a lot of warnings about handling, regarding color transfer. They recommend a water soluble stabilizer for some handling, which makes it washable but it will fade (and transfer to other items in the wash). For more heavy handling they recommend laminating the fabric, in which case it can be wiped clean but not laundered. With all the warnings, I expected ink to come off on my hands every time I touch the printed fabric, but that hasn't been the case. I think they may be emphasizing the risks just to be cautious. The fabric size (width) is not standard bolt size, so you'll have to make sure your pattern will fit on an 11.69" wide swath. You can also print on regular paper. The printer is able to print close to the edges, which is nice. It doesn't have as big of margins as I expected. Also keep in mind that his printer has a big footprint. So, all in all, this is a nice product with some limitations for usefulness. It's easy to print some fabric to make colorful bags you simply can't get anywhere else, or print banners, or fantasy/roleplaying maps, etc. But it wouldn't be great for making clothes, or items that you expect to get a lot of handling or that would need to be washed frequently.

For vivid printing of photos, you HAVE TO turn off the quality Eco-Mode in the "General Settings" for the printer (not to be confused with Quiet Mode or Economy Mode). Shutting off the Eco-Mode within the printer settings allows you to enhance the color of the photos. My first attempt at printing on the fabric roll, the photos came out yellow and faint-looking. Needless to say, I was mad. After reading more about the printer and doing a search about the settings, to have vibrant and enhanced-looking photos, you must shut off the Eco-Mode for color quality. Someone left a review with two photos, and you can tell the difference in the quality of the photos. I am sure that they left the quality Eco-Mode on and printed the photos. I tried two different photos on the fabric roll, one in Eco-Mode and one in Enhanced Mode. You can definitely tell a difference between the two. The Enhanced Mode vs printing on my HP printer looked the same. I am definitely happy about finding out about the print quality mode and how to shut off Eco-Mode.

As huge as the box was, I was expecting a lot more hassle getting this set up and figuring out how to use it than it actually was. Truth be told, it actually was easy. The first thing to note is it will be a lot easier to take the actual unit out of the box if you have someone helping you. It is pretty big but the UPS guy got it to front door by himself so it is doable if you don't have help. Second - before you get it all plugged in and set into place like you want it, turn it around and take a screenshot of the writing on the back in the bottom right-hand corner. That has a password that you'll need during the registration process later. Other than that, it really is pretty much plug and play. Shake the black cartridge, then put all 4 in. Have it find your network and then set up the app on your phone and in a matter of minutes you can print something out. It's actually the app that I didn't find as intuitive but I'll figure that out later. I really did get something printed on the fabric roll within minutes of getting it set up and the quality is great. I printed out a picture of a family member (so maybe I'll make this test run into a pillow with their face on it!) and the details are super clear and concise. Setting up the fabric roll was also easy. They do run a test on actual paper first but since I already have a perfectly good printer/scanner/copier/fax from another major brand, I'm going to use this just for fabric printing. The cool thing is that while the width is limited to the width of the roll, the length is determined only by your project. I live near a store that sells Brother products so I can probably get refills on the ink and paper locally. But if not, Brother does have a JIT program to ship ink refills to the house as needed. I may end up doing that for the ink and buying the fabric rolls locally. This is a great idea for not just printing pictures (like for a memory quilt or tote bag) but you can also scan in designs to print fabric to make pretty much anything out of it. There are a gazillion options to use on this and I feel like I'm just getting started.