Custom Dakimakura Cover

A cover, in the size the category actually uses

150 by 50 cm, printed with artwork you supply, closed with a hidden zip along one long edge. No insert, because if you are reading this you almost certainly own one.

That is not a cost cut. Bundling an insert into a cover listing is how a low headline price becomes a high checkout total, and it means paying to ship several kilograms of polyester you already have sitting on a bed. A cover ships flat and light. Buying one when you have an insert is straightforwardly the cheaper path.

If you do not own an insert, do not buy this. Buy the complete body pillow instead, where the insert is included and the total lands below what the two cost separately.

Peach skin and 2 way tricot, and why the answer here is different

On most of our products we tell people to take the cheaper fabric. In this category the recommendation genuinely flips, and it is worth explaining why rather than just charging more.

2 way tricot

A smooth knit with real stretch in both directions and a slight sheen. Two things follow from the stretch. Colours come out noticeably more saturated, which matters when the artwork is illustration rather than photography and the colour was chosen deliberately. And the fabric conforms to a filled insert instead of pulling against it, so the print stays flat across the surface rather than distorting along the seams where the insert pushes hardest.

That second point is the technical reason 2 way tricot is the fabric people in this category ask for by name. It is also why it costs more.

Peach skin

Matte, softly brushed, no sheen. Colours read slightly muted next to tricot. It resists creasing well and it is the more forgiving fabric to own, which is a real argument if the cover is going to be used nightly rather than displayed.

Peach skin is the right call for softer artwork, for watercolour and pastel palettes where saturation is not the point, and for anyone who would rather spend the difference on the artwork itself.

Preparing the artwork

The print area is 150 by 50 cm, a 3 to 1 ratio, and almost nothing is natively that shape except artwork drawn for it.

Resolution

Aim for 3000 by 1000 pixels or larger. Below that the file gets enlarged past what it holds and the softness is visible at full length, particularly in line work, where a soft edge reads as a mistake rather than a style.

Composition

Artwork commissioned for this size already accounts for the ratio. Artwork that was not needs a decision about what happens at the top and bottom of the pillow, and that decision is better made deliberately than by cropping to the centre and hoping. Send it and say what has to stay in frame.

Rights

We print artwork you own or have permission to use. Commissioned pieces are fine with the artist's agreement, and a large share of orders here are exactly that. We do not print licensed characters or other people's artwork without it, and asking will not change the answer.

Fit, and what insert firmness does

The cover is cut for a standard 150 by 50 cm insert. Fit is not only about dimensions though, it is about firmness.

A soft or under filled insert lets the cover sit loose, which reads as slack fabric and puts creases across the print. A firmer insert fills the cover properly and holds the print flat, which is what makes a good print look good. If you have been disappointed by a cover before, the insert is a more likely cause than the printing.

If your insert is a non standard size, say so before we print. We build the file to match rather than sending you something cut to a size you do not own.

Production time in a slow category

Three days from the moment you approve the layout. For comparison, the large print on demand marketplaces serving this category typically quote seven to ten business days of production, and that is measured after proofing rather than including it.

The other constraint they carry is minimum order quantity. Ours is one. If you need a handful for a convention table rather than a pallet for a warehouse, that difference is the whole reason to order here.

How this sits next to the rest of the range

The same 150 by 50 cm cover exists under a different name for people who did not arrive through the anime term. That is custom body pillow cases, and it is the same construction described for a different reader.

The custom dakimakura guide goes further into fabric behaviour over time, artwork preparation and what changes between a commissioned piece and a photograph.

If what you want is a shape rather than a rectangle, the die cutting is covered under custom shaped pillows, and the full range sits at custom pillows.

Questions people ask

Can I have different artwork on each side?

Yes, at no extra cost. Two separate pieces, or the same piece mirrored, which some artists prefer so the pillow reads correctly from either direction.

Does the zip show?

It is hidden along one long edge, so it does not interrupt the print face.

Will washing dull the colours?

No. The ink is dye based and sits inside the fibre rather than on the surface, so there is no printed layer to lift. Wash cold, inside out, in a bag, and air dry flat.

What if the layout is not what I pictured?

You are approving it before payment, so you ask for a different one. That step exists precisely because a 3 to 1 crop is the part people cannot easily imagine from a description.