Tips & Tricks for Painting on Fabric

I love to paint on fabric!

I do everything from painting my own art quilts to teach five year olds how to paint their own design on a t-shirt.

But do I necessarily use the same fabric paint for every project?

Of course not!

There are lots of different fabric paints on the market these days.  You can find everything from inexpensive squeeze bottles of puffy paint to high-end designer paints that can cost more than a meal.  I recommend playing around with different products to see what you like the best.

And don’t forget that by mixing in a fabric paint or textile medium into standard acrylic paint you’ve turned it into a permanent fabric paint.  The medium makes the acrylic paint dry to a softer hand and after you heat set it (according to the bottle instructions) it’s permanent and washable.

I quite often use a textile medium mixed with Golden fluid acrylics for my own art quilts.   It gives you lovely, rich colors and blends nicely on the fabric.

For kids t-shirts you can definitely go with a less expensive paint however   I’ve had quite good results using a student-quality acrylic paint, mixed with medium, for kids projects.

As with any paint on fabric, make sure to use a thin layer – it doesn’t dry well if you leave clumps of paint…

image: Stock.xchg