Paint on fabric?
04-11-2023, 08:26 AM
#1
Super Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Southern California
Posts: 1,033
Paint on fabric?
I've been sewing and quilting for many years, and have started to use paint on my art quilts. It's exciting because it's new, and can give effects I can't achieve with only fabric. Do any of you use paint on your quilts?
04-12-2023, 03:38 AM
#5
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Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Davenport, Iowa
Posts: 3,778
I've had three seasonal banners for many years. Each are made from canvas with a Welcome Kitty, a Scarecrow and pumpkin, and the last being a Snowman, colors are starting to fade as these hang on the outside of the house. I'd love to give them a fresh touch up to last a few more years. I've heard there is an additive to add to craft paint for fabric, but haven't checked into it yet. Maybe this will remiind me to do so.
04-12-2023, 04:00 AM
#7
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Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 4,348
I've used paint a bit. If you go to the Dharma Trading site, there is a lot of info there.
I especially like Lumiere paint. You can purchase sample kits that give you small bottles of a number of colours/finishes so you can test them out. These are specifically fabric paint.
You can also use acrylic paint, mixed with a fabric medium. If you are doing a wall hanging that is never going to be washed, you can get away without using a medium, but I find it makes the colours flow better. If it is going to be washed, the medium helps the paint heat set so it doesn't fade as much.
There are lots of videos on Youtube on how to get started. I especially like On Point TV/Quilting with Nancy for technique videos.
Now, if you really want to go down the rabbit hole...look into monoprinting with gel plates. It's gorgeous.
Watson
I especially like Lumiere paint. You can purchase sample kits that give you small bottles of a number of colours/finishes so you can test them out. These are specifically fabric paint.
You can also use acrylic paint, mixed with a fabric medium. If you are doing a wall hanging that is never going to be washed, you can get away without using a medium, but I find it makes the colours flow better. If it is going to be washed, the medium helps the paint heat set so it doesn't fade as much.
There are lots of videos on Youtube on how to get started. I especially like On Point TV/Quilting with Nancy for technique videos.
Now, if you really want to go down the rabbit hole...look into monoprinting with gel plates. It's gorgeous.
Watson
04-12-2023, 06:05 AM
#8
Super Member
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Va.
Posts: 5,752
Yes, I've been using several different kinds of paint to paint my quilts for a number of years now. Following are the kinds of paints I use and some info on them:
Inktense - works great, but it can be hard to keep the color from bleeding into areas where you don't want it when you add water to activate the color. Using fabric medium instead of water makes it a little easier to control the placement of your color. Some people swear by aloe vera gel to help activate the color while also controlling placement. Ink tense can give all kinds of neat effects, from watercolor blends to drawn line and tends to be moderately transparent, so I use it on white or off-white fabrics rather than on dark colors. Heat set them for permanence.
Sun Dyes -they're Australian and I got them from Helen Godden's website. The Sun Dyes are lovely and they can be used to give watercolor-like effects. For example I like to paint the Sun Dyes on my fabric, and then sprinkle rock salt on it to get effects that look a lot like batiks. The secret is to remove the rock salt before the fabric is completely dry, otherwise it can be hard to remove. Sun Dyes are very runny and will spread quite a bit when you are painting them on your fabric, so it's a good idea to paint a small area at a time and let dry if you don't want the colors to mingle. Or you can embrace the surprise and use them like doing a wet in wet watercolor technique or drop color into wet areas to achieve shading and get a more organic look. Like Inktense, Sun Dyes are transparent, so use them on white or off-white fabrics for the best results. They also need to be heat set for permanence.
Acrylic Paints- Jacquard makes a range of fabric paints that are lovely to work with. My favorite is their line of Lumiere acrylic paints- these are very creamy and opaque so they can be used on any color fabric. Many of the colors dry to a sheen that resembles satin. I've also used Golden brand artist colors mixed with Golden's fabric medium and also Arteza brand. These usually also need to be heat set for permanence. The thing to remember about using any of the acrylic paints like Lumiere, Golden and Arteza is that you only get one chance when quilting over them. If you rip out quilting stitches on fabric painted with most acrylic paint applications, the holes made by the needle will not close up like they do when you rip stitches out of unpainted fabric. This is not the case when using Sun Dyes as they are thinned down and soak into the fibers rather than laying over top of them like Acrylic paint does. Inktense can go either way, depending on how thickly you color with it and what kind of medium you use to activate it. If you are only using water, then the holes will close up, but if you are using fabric medium, they may or may not close up depending on how thickly you paint it on.
My more recent albums on my user page have some quilts that have been painted using the three methods noted above if you want to see the differences between the effects you get from each medium.
Rob
Inktense - works great, but it can be hard to keep the color from bleeding into areas where you don't want it when you add water to activate the color. Using fabric medium instead of water makes it a little easier to control the placement of your color. Some people swear by aloe vera gel to help activate the color while also controlling placement. Ink tense can give all kinds of neat effects, from watercolor blends to drawn line and tends to be moderately transparent, so I use it on white or off-white fabrics rather than on dark colors. Heat set them for permanence.
Sun Dyes -they're Australian and I got them from Helen Godden's website. The Sun Dyes are lovely and they can be used to give watercolor-like effects. For example I like to paint the Sun Dyes on my fabric, and then sprinkle rock salt on it to get effects that look a lot like batiks. The secret is to remove the rock salt before the fabric is completely dry, otherwise it can be hard to remove. Sun Dyes are very runny and will spread quite a bit when you are painting them on your fabric, so it's a good idea to paint a small area at a time and let dry if you don't want the colors to mingle. Or you can embrace the surprise and use them like doing a wet in wet watercolor technique or drop color into wet areas to achieve shading and get a more organic look. Like Inktense, Sun Dyes are transparent, so use them on white or off-white fabrics for the best results. They also need to be heat set for permanence.
Acrylic Paints- Jacquard makes a range of fabric paints that are lovely to work with. My favorite is their line of Lumiere acrylic paints- these are very creamy and opaque so they can be used on any color fabric. Many of the colors dry to a sheen that resembles satin. I've also used Golden brand artist colors mixed with Golden's fabric medium and also Arteza brand. These usually also need to be heat set for permanence. The thing to remember about using any of the acrylic paints like Lumiere, Golden and Arteza is that you only get one chance when quilting over them. If you rip out quilting stitches on fabric painted with most acrylic paint applications, the holes made by the needle will not close up like they do when you rip stitches out of unpainted fabric. This is not the case when using Sun Dyes as they are thinned down and soak into the fibers rather than laying over top of them like Acrylic paint does. Inktense can go either way, depending on how thickly you color with it and what kind of medium you use to activate it. If you are only using water, then the holes will close up, but if you are using fabric medium, they may or may not close up depending on how thickly you paint it on.
My more recent albums on my user page have some quilts that have been painted using the three methods noted above if you want to see the differences between the effects you get from each medium.
Rob
Last edited by rryder; 04-12-2023 at 06:12 AM.
04-12-2023, 10:48 AM
#9
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2022
Location: Northeast
Posts: 682
Sounds interesting. However, I can't allow myself to fall down the rabbit hole. If I tried it and liked it, then I'd not only have stash of fabrics, threads, etc. But, I be adding paints, fabric medium, brushes to the mix. So, best that I admire from afar!
