free worldwide shipping for all custom scarf orders
free worldwide shipping for all custom scarf orders
The spec sheet for silk-ready artwork
A custom silk scarf prints best from a PDF or PSD built at the finished size of the scarf, at 300 dpi, with crests, monograms, and lettering kept as vectors. Send that, and the file that looks sharp on your screen will look just as sharp across 55 centimeters of silk. This guide is the spec sheet we share with planners and designers before a project starts, so a file can be prepared or checked in ten minutes.
Our guide to how to create a custom silk scarf walks through the whole journey, from artwork to a finished piece in your hands. This one goes deep on the step everything else depends on, the file itself.
The most common reason a file disappoints on silk is that it was built small and enlarged later. A scarf is a large canvas. What reads crisply as a thumbnail on a phone can soften once it is stretched across a 55 or 90 centimeter square, and no adjustment at our end can put back detail that was never in the file.
So set your document to the finished size of the scarf, at 300 dpi. The table shows what that means in pixels for every size we produce.
| Scarf size | In inches | Canvas at 300 dpi |
|---|---|---|
| 33 × 33 cm | 13 × 13 in | 3,898 × 3,898 px |
| 55 × 55 cm | 21.7 × 21.7 in | 6,496 × 6,496 px |
| 70 × 70 cm | 27.6 × 27.6 in | 8,268 × 8,268 px |
| 70 × 90 cm | 27.6 × 35.4 in | 8,268 × 10,630 px |
| 90 × 90 cm | 35.4 × 35.4 in | 10,630 × 10,630 px |
| 140 × 140 cm | 55.1 × 55.1 in | 16,535 × 16,535 px |
If you are personalizing one of our existing designs rather than bringing your own, none of this applies to you. Our files are already built at size, and all we need are your names, dates, and colors.
Crests, monograms, borders, and fine line work stay clean on silk when they are vectors, or sit inside a PDF that preserves them. A screenshot or a low resolution export of the same crest prints with soft edges, because the print can only reproduce what the file contains.
The same goes for lettering. Names, a place, a date, set as live or outlined type, print with crisp edges at any size. Type that has been flattened into a small image softens first, and it is the first thing a guest reads. If your designer works in Illustrator or InDesign, a PDF exported with the fonts embedded or outlined is ideal. From Photoshop, a PSD at full size with the text layers intact works just as well.
Photographs and painted artwork are a different case, and a welcome one. They are pixels by nature, so the only rule is resolution. A scan or photograph at the sizes in the table prints beautifully. The same image saved from a website will not.
A screen shows color with light. Silk shows it with ink on a woven surface, and the weave has a say. The same red reads deep and matte on organic silk twill, brighter and more lustrous on silk satin, and softer again on chiffon. None of those is wrong. They are different cloths, and part of choosing your silk is choosing how the color will sit on it.
What helps us is knowing which color you mean. Set your file to the colors you intend rather than the ones a screen happens to show, and if you have a reference, a Pantone number, a printed swatch, or a piece of the stationery the scarf will sit beside, send it along. Every run begins with color mixed for your artwork, and a reference gives that mixing something to aim at.
For color that has to be exact, the answer is the sample. It is a single finished scarf in your silk, printed from your file, and it is the moment color stops being a prediction.
Every scarf is finished with a hand-rolled hem, and the roll takes the outermost band of the design into the seam. Keep anything that must stay fully visible, a name or a crest, at least 1.5 centimeters in from the edge. If the design has a background color or pattern, run it right to the edge, so the roll is filled with color rather than a white strip.
Silk rewards restraint. The designs we love most carry a few words with room around them. For weddings that usually means first names, the place, the date, an RSVP date, and a dress code, and often less. Long passages fight the drape of the cloth and are hard to read once the scarf is worn or waved. If you are unsure, take a line out and look again.
A print-ready PDF or PSD, at finished size, 300 dpi, fonts embedded or outlined, colors set as you intend them. That is the whole checklist. A high resolution TIFF or PNG works for photographic artwork. Files up to 25 MB can be uploaded directly on our custom silk scarves page, and for anything larger a shared link is perfect.
Print-ready means the artwork is finished. We check every file for print quality and make small production adjustments where needed, a slight repositioning, a margin brought in from the edge. We do not create original artwork from scratch, so if the design itself still needs to be made, the studio we recommend is Ceci New York, whom we work closely with. And if you would rather not prepare a file at all, you can personalize one of our existing designs with your own names, dates, and colors.
We open the file the way the print will see it, at full size, and check resolution, color, and placement against the finished scarf with its hem. If anything needs a decision, we come back to you before a single piece is printed. Nothing prints on an assumption.
From there the sequence is simple. A finished sample, if you want one, is $550 for any size and silk, takes three to four weeks, and the full amount is credited to your production order. From your approved final print file, production through to delivery takes five to six weeks, with a pause each August when our Como workshop takes its traditional summer break.
Can I send a JPG or PNG? For photographic artwork, yes, as long as it is at the finished scarf size at 300 dpi. For anything with lettering, a crest, or fine lines, a PDF or PSD keeps those elements crisp and is the better choice.
What if my file is low resolution? We will tell you before anything is printed and ask for the original artwork at a higher resolution. If no larger version exists, a designer can usually rebuild a simple layout as vectors, and personalizing one of our existing designs is always open to you.
Can you design the scarf for me? We print and finish your artwork and make small production adjustments, but we do not create original designs from scratch. For that we recommend Ceci New York. You can also personalize an existing By Biehle design with your own names, dates, and colors.
Will the colors match my screen exactly? Not exactly, and no printed silk does. Set the colors you intend, send a reference if you have one, and confirm with a sample when color has to be precise.
Do I need to leave a margin for the hem? Yes. Keep essential elements at least 1.5 centimeters from the edge and run any background to the edge, so the hand-rolled hem carries color rather than a white strip.
When the file is ready, upload it on our custom silk scarves page or send us a link, and we will come back to you on whether it is set for silk. If you are earlier in the process, start with How to Create a Custom Silk Scarf, and if you are budgeting, our guide to how much a custom silk scarf costs walks through the full price grid with real order totals.
