Everything You Need to Know About Printed vs. Woven Fabrics
Introduction
If you’ve ever browsed upholstery fabric and wondered about the difference between printed and woven designs, you’re not alone. It’s one of the most common questions we hear from designers and makers—and one of the most important decisions in shaping the look, feel, and performance of your fabric.
At Saint and Poet, we digitally print every fabric design in-house here in the UK, and for good reason. In this guide, we’ll explain the difference between printed and woven fabrics—and why digital print allows us to create the expressive, design-led upholstery textiles our customers love.
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What’s the Difference?
Woven fabric is created by physically interlacing different coloured threads to form a pattern as the cloth is woven. The design is embedded into the fabric structure itself.
Printed fabric, by contrast, starts with a finished cloth (a basecloth), onto which the design is printed—using screen printing, rotary methods, or (as in our case) digital print technology.
Both have their place, but each offers very different strengths—especially when it comes to colour, texture, and creativity.
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Why We Use Digital Print at Saint and Poet
All of our upholstery fabrics are digitally printed in the UK, allowing us to:
🎨 1. Unlock Unlimited Design Possibilities
Digital printing gives us complete freedom to explore:
• Hand-drawn details and painterly marks
• Complex colour gradients
• Layered textures and abstract forms
Designs like those in our Collage Collection or Weimar Collection would be impossible to reproduce using traditional weaving, which is limited by the number of coloured threads.
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🖋 2. Preserve Artistic Integrity
Many of our patterns begin as ink drawings, paper cut-outs, or brushstrokes. Digital print allows us to retain every nuance of the original artwork, including texture, line variation, and shading—creating a visually rich and emotionally resonant finish.
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🌿 3. Print Sustainably and Responsively
We print on demand in small runs, using eco-conscious inks and a low-waste production process—right here in the UK. That means:
• Reduced waste
• Local production
• Faster turnaround times
• No need for large inventory or overseas shipping
Learn more about how our linen-blend basecloth supports softness, durability, and crisp print definition in our recent guide to fabric composition.
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🪑 4. Achieve Incredible Detail and Depth
Unlike woven fabric, digital printing doesn’t limit the number of colours or require bold, blocky shapes. That means we can create:
• Fine lines and soft transitions
• Painterly effects and watercolour textures
• Artwork that looks alive on cloth
Explore our Green Upholstery Fabric Collection to see how detailed motifs come to life when printed digitally.
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When Are Woven Fabrics a Better Fit?
Woven fabrics are best when:
• Texture is more important than image (e.g., heavy weaves, bouclés)
• You want a more traditional or tonal look
• The design is simple and geometric
But if your goal is bold storytelling, layered expression, and true design flexibility, digital print is unmatched.
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Final Thoughts: Design Without Compromise
We believe that printed fabrics offer the best combination of creativity, colour, and character—especially when made with care, printed locally, and applied to a premium basecloth.
Every Saint and Poet fabric is:
• Digitally printed in-house in the UK
• Designed for bold interiors and expressive furniture
• Suitable for upholstery, curtains, and soft furnishings
Browse our full range of digitally printed upholstery fabrics and see what’s possible when colour meets character.
