What if my design has a higher DPI than 150?
What if I want to print text? Will it be crisp and clear when printed?
What settings should I use for digital photographs and scanned images?
Let’s see a design in action! (video)
What are the basics?
Spoonflower produces a good quality print at our minimum resolution requirement of 150 dpi. The basic rule of thumb is to make your design file whichever size you'd like your final print to be, when set at 150 dpi. When creating your design for a specific scale, such as for an 8in x 10in final print, create an 8in x 10in (1200 pixels x 1500 pixels) design file at 150 dpi.
There is a quick formula to help determine the best size for your design file; simply multiply the print width and height in inches by 150 pixels.
For example, if you'd like an image to print at 4in x 4in, prepare your file so that it measures at least 600 x 600 pixels, since 4 inches x 150 pixels = 600.
If you do not have access to a design program, please check out some of the free options we recommend here.
Note for the metric folks: For the rare artist who designs using centimeters and "dpcm," Spoonflower's use of inches and DPI may be a bit confusing. If this is you, save your design at the appropriate metric dimensions with a resolution of at least 59 dpcm before uploading to our site.
Common Design Sizes:
- 4" = 600 pixels
- 8" = 1200 pixels
- 10" = 1500 pixels
- 12" = 1800 pixels
- 18” = 2700 pixels
- 21” = 3150 pixels
- 24" = 3600 pixels
- 27” = 4050 pixels
- 28” = 4200 pixels
- 29” = 4350 pixels
- 36” = 5400 pixels
- 42" = 6300 pixels
- 54” = 8100 pixels
- 56” = 8400 pixels
- 58” = 8700 pixels
Common sizes to print a design for 1 yard/meter of fabric (width x length):
1 yard = 36in for length; 1 meter = 100cm for length
If you would like a template for any of the following yard/meter sizes, you will find them at the bottom of this article. The templates are set up for the 1 yard or 1 meter size at 150 DPI.
| Fabric Type | Fat Quarter Size | Yard/Meter Size |
|---|---|---|
|
Petal Signature Cotton® Cotton Poplin |
27in x 18in 53cm x 50cm 4050 x 2700 pixels/in |
42in x 36in 106cm x 100cm 6300 x 5400 pixels/in |
| Poly Crepe de Chine |
26in x 18in 66cm x 50cm 3900 x 2700 pixels/in |
52in x 36in 132cm x 100cm 7800 x 5400 pixels/in |
|
Belgian Linen™ Celosia Velvet™ Chiffon Linen Cotton Canvas Minky Satin |
27in x 18in 68cm x 50cm 4050 x 2700 pixels/in |
54in x 36in 137cm x 100cm 8100 x 5400 pixels/in |
|
Cypress Cotton Canvas Dogwood Denim™ Fleece Modern Jersey Organic Cotton Knit Organic Cotton Sateen Organic Sweet Pea Gauze Performance Piqué Sport Lycra |
28in x 18in 71cm x 50cm 4200 x 2700 pixels/in |
56in x 36in 142cm x 100cm 8400 x 5400 pixels/in |
| Lightweight Cotton Twill |
29in x 18in 73cm x 50cm 4350 x 2700 pixels/in |
58in x 36in 147cm x 100cm 8700 x 5400 pixels/in |
| Cotton Spandex Jersey |
30in x 18in 76cm x 50cm 4500 x 2700 pixels/in |
60in x 36in 152cm x 100cm 9000 x 5400 pixels/in |
Sizing Wallpaper Designs
There are a few differences to understand when sizing your design to print for wallpaper vs. fabric. A wallpaper design will need to repeat an even number of times for the 24" (60.96cm) roll width and this will impact the scale your wallpaper design can be printed with. With a seamless repeat, we recommend some of the canvas sizes below:
- Option 1 - Create a canvas for 24" (60.96cm) wide x the height of your choice at 150 dpi, with the design repeating as many times as necessary to fill the space at the scale you desire.
- Option 2 - Make a canvas sized to 12" (30.48cm) wide x the height you would prefer at 150 dpi. The design will repeat 2 times fully for each roll once uploaded.
- Option 3 - With a canvas for 6" (15.24cm) wide x the height desired at 150 dpi, the design can repeat up to 4 times on the design page to fill the 24" width.
Note: If your design will not fit an even number of times (2, 4, 6, etc) for the 24" roll, our site will automatically resize your design until it fits the width of the 24" (60.96cm) roll.
In the example below, this design was created for 4" wide x 4" height and saved to 150 dpi. The Design Size section is displaying each repeat as "4in x 4in, 150pixels/inch," with the Half-Drop repeat. It is also showing that 6 repeats of the design will fill the 24" roll width. For more information about adjusting the scale of your uploaded design further, look to this next section.
Note: For the example above, a Half-Drop repeat was used. This was intentional because it is important to understand how a half-drop repeat design could impact wallpaper installation and the lengths of wallpaper rolls that must be purchased for a successful finish. For more information about selling Half-Drop wallpaper designs in our marketplace, look here.
For example, if 6 rolls are needed to cover a 8' (243.84cm) high wall, it would likely be best to order 3 - 9' (260cm) length rolls and 3 - 12' (310cm) length rolls. We aren’t able to change how a pattern prints from one roll to the next, so these longer rolls account for the vertical shift of the pattern that is necessary for a seamless installation.
What if my design has a higher DPI than 150?
Once your design is uploaded to our site from here, the design preview will default to show your design at 150 dpi. This means that if you upload a file that’s been prepared at 300 pixels per inch, it will appear as double the size in the preview. We cover how to adjust the design tile size back to 300 dpi below.
 |
 |
| 150 dpi Preview | 300 dpi Preview |
How does the design preview work?
The design preview is the best way to predict how a design will print. The rulers along the edge of the preview are also a great way to estimate the finished scale of a repeat. The size of your design file in the preview will always be displayed on this page similar to below.
You can see the exact size of the repeat below the Design Size section. With this image, we can see that the uploaded design is 4in x 4in for the repeat in the preview window.
What does this information mean?
|
4.00in x 4.00in, 150 pixels/inch, Half-Drop (example above) |
|
1. 4.00in x 4.00 in |
Size of the repeat as width x height |
|
2. 150 pixels/inch |
How many pixels per inch |
|
3. Half-Drop |
Repeat option selected |
If you may need to change the scale further, use the Bigger, Smaller, or Change DPI options below the Design Size section to increase or decrease the scale. Once you are happy with the layout, you can also use the Save This Layout option to save the selected scale of your design.
Note for the metric folks: The tools and tips above are helpful for metric designers, but if you design in Metric Fat Quarters or in Meters and need to see the entire layout of your pattern, you will need to set your Size & Amount at one size larger than your design dimension in yards. For example, a 1 Meter pattern won't completely show for "QUANTITY 1" yard. However, if you change to "QUANTITY 2" and select "Center" repeat you will be able to see the entirety of the 1 Meter pattern on your chosen fabric width as a way to confirm its length. Be sure to change to another repeat option afterwards prior to saving the layout of your design.
What if I want to print text? Will it be crisp and clear when printed?
The best options for your text based design can vary depending on the style of font you are using, the size, as well as the fabric you would like to use. Generally, it is best to keep any fonts at the 1/2in size. Finer details smaller than 1/2in may not translate well when printed onto the fabric of your choice.
For this reason, it’s always best to proceed with a test swatch first so that further adjustments for your design can be made as needed for the best print possible at a larger quantity.
What settings should I use for digital photographs and scanned images?
We suggest that you capture your image using a high quality setting. This will allow you to scale your image without compromising the quality of the image. Here are some additional tips:
- Digital photographs - As a rule of thumb, a 3 megapixel camera can be used to capture an image that will nicely fill an 8in x 8in swatch. A 10 megapixel camera will capture an image to fill an 18in x 21in fat quarter. A full yard requires 40 megapixels, which at this point is only available in very high end professional cameras.
- Scanned artwork - Typically scanners have a range of scanning resolutions starting at 150 dpi and escalating to 300, 600, 1200, and 2400. As a rule of thumb, a standard sheet of paper in landscape (11in x 8.5in) scanned at 300 dpi will fill a fat quarter. The same sheet scanned at 600 dpi will fill a yard.
Let’s see a design in action!
Please see below for an example working with a seamless design created for the size of 4in x 4in (600 x 600 pixels) and saved to 150 dpi. We’ll be changing the scale of the design to 300 dpi on the design page after uploading in order for the scale to then be 2in x 2in. Once this is changed, the 'Save This Layout' button is selected to save the new scale.
Yard/Meter Templates:
All templates below are available for use with Adobe® Photoshop®. If you may wish to use these templates with a free option instead, please check out some of the options with Photopea. This useful site lets you continue to save PSD files as well!