Pictures From My Life- February 26

Painting Fabric with really cheap acrylic paints.  Carol asked about this.  So here it is.  I buy bottles of colors I like.  Light, medium and dark.  If I want orange fabric I buy 2 orange colors and one yellow that looks good with it.  Green?  Two greens and a yellow so I can mix chartreuse.  Blues are more tricky.  A light blue could add too much white and make your blue swirls murky.  I lighten the darker, rich blues with water.  There might even be a bottle of clear "extender" you could use to mix a lighter blue.  The more water you add--the more you get a watercolor effect.

I mention blues and greens because those are the two fabrics I painted that were seen in the quilts I showed recently.

I use plain white 100% cotton fabric to paint on--nothing special but I like a tight weave-muslin is okay.  I set a square of dry, unwashed cloth on a washable plastic surface (old shower curtain or kid's plastic painting table cover).  I squeeze out paint and add water if it feels too thick and temper the colors with the darker one or the lighter one as I go. (I have a plastic muffin pan that I use to mix colors)  I then start painting circles.  Just the outside circles.  Then I wash & dry my brush and pick up a lighter or darker shade and make another circle inside or outside the ones I already painted.  I just keep going until the entire surface is covered.  I sometimes add little detail dots on the green.

Instead of circles you could make V's or W's.  Dashes or dots.  A square of lines going up and down next to a square of lines going left and right. Or just rows of squiggles.  I make circles because I like circles and they go well in the things I make.  Organic.

Fill in all areas-- do not leave any fabric unpainted.  Usually, when I am done with a "painting" I move it off to the porch onto some newspaper to dry.  I then put another square of unpainted cotton on top of the paint that leaked thru the first square and PRESS down to soak up the leftover paint. I usually have on a plastic glove when I press down.  A Two-fer.  You get a lighter more flexible "print" to use.  You could also scrap across the surface of this second print with a credit card.  Let that dry next to the other square on newspaper or paint on top with any paint you have left in the muffin tin cups.

If the paint seems too thick and gloppy--add more water.  You can test the texture on the drop cloth or on newspaper.  Or on yourself.  I now wear a wipe-able apron when painting.  Trust me.  Once this stuff gets on fabric --it doesn't come off.

Let your painted fabric dry completely.  I use it stiff.  For machine quilting and stitching.  If you want use it with hand sewing--mix the paint to watercolor lightness.  I have washed the finished painted fabric and let it dry flat outside.  It softens a bit.  But no color loss.  After 15 years --no fading.

Ask questions.  Give it a try.  The only downside is getting paint on your favorite white shirt.