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Fabric Painting Tips

Amruta Gaikwad
Fabric paints are a great tool to create your own unique styles and designs on your clothes and bags. Here are some tips to create your own fabric paintings.
The numerous brilliant colors in fabric paints has made this art form very alluring. Fabric painting is an art of creating different designs and patterns on different types of fabric. People who are interested in painting can try out painting on different fabrics and create their own unique styles.
With the availability of different fabrics, many kinds of fabric paints are introduced in the market to make painting easier. These paints create less mess and can be easily cleaned too. Fabric paints are non-toxic colors, which are safe to use.
Fabric paints can be best used on old clothes that you are about to discard from your wardrobe. In case your interest lies in painting, then take out the stack of old clothes and turn them into wacky and trendy clothing.
Pick some fabric painting pens to create detailed pictures or use a fabric spray to color your t-shirt with different colors. Here are few ideas to help you with painting.

Basic Methods of Fabric Painting

  • Fabrics tend to shrink after a wash. Therefore, before painting on it, wash it thoroughly, so that it settles to a certain size.
  • According to the fabric texture, select the appropriate fabric paints. Fabric pens, sprays, tubes make a great choice for making detailed pictures. Even stencils are a great way to get easy and quick designs.
  • Once you have sorted out the designs and paints, arrange the cloth on a hard surface, to assure stability while painting.
  • Once the painting is over, allow the cloth to dry at least for 24 hours.
  • Make sure it still rests on the hard surface, to avoid the paint from smudging.
  • In case the paint is wet even after 24 hours, allow it some more time to dry.
  • Once the paint has completely dried, wash the cloth and allow the left over color to wash out.
  • After thoroughly washing it, iron the cloth, leaving the painted portion.
  • Once the cloth is well ironed it is ready to be worn.
These are the basic methods of painting to help you create some fabric paint designs. In case you have already tried your hand at such an art of painting, then take a look at some more kinds of fabric paintings and learn the tips to experiment with them.

Techniques and Tips for Fabric Painting

Stamp Painting

Stamp painting is very easy way of fabric painting. Ready-made stamps of different patterns and pictures on them make the process quick and easy. These stamps are good for children and for beginners.
In order to stamp paint, take a plain cloth and place a cardboard from the inside to keep the surface of the t-shirt wrinkle free and stable. Take the paint of your choice and dip the stamp into the paint and apply on the t-shirt. In case you don't want to spoil your hands, take a brush, dip it into the paint and apply a thin layer of the paint on the stamp.

Stencils

Stencils are among the easiest way of creating designs on any fabric. To start with, select the fabric on which you want to paint. Always wash the fabric before painting to keep the surface free from dirt and dust.
There are many stencils available in the market especially made for the purpose of fabric painting. You can even create your own unique stencils to make your designs more customized. Stencils should be cut out from a hard surface as they remain stable during the process of painting.
Place the stencil on the cloth and begin to fill in the gaps by fabric paints. Keep the paint moderately thick, so that it doesn't flow from beneath the stencil. Fabric paints take time to dry. Therefore, allow the paint to dry for 24 hours and then slowly remove the stencil.
These different ways of fabric paintings can bring joy to your painting sessions. So take up the tips and experiment with the different techniques of fabric painting.