Painted Fabrics

A lot of extra time on my hands this summer and fall, and much of that time as used to explore surface design techniques which I have been intrigued by for years. Not having had the time to really get the paints and dyes out and just see what happens when it is all mixed together. Here are pictures of cotton fabrics that are painted with fabric paints, mostly Jaquards paints. Boxes of many different paints have been sitting idle for years, and I tried to use up a few.                                                                              

 Dyne-a-flow is a very liquid paint that spreads  very easily on the fabric.  Any fabric paint can be used, you just have to water it down so that it is quite thin, and easier to apply with a foam brush or regular brush.                                                                                                                                                         

Some places the paints will mix on the fabric, especially if the fabric is damp or wet before the paints are applied.

Some of the grid pattern that shows up are a result of the fabric drying on my back porch table, creating small puddles in the design on the table. Not intentional, but I am happy with the little extra effect.

Very often I need something special for a background on a appliques quilt, and this technique can make a very special addition to a scenery quilt, and you don't need to spend a lot of time on it

But most of all I had fun doing this, and for a few days I painted several yards of white Kona cotton fabric with paints from my stash. I was hoping that my stash would get smaller after this, but of course ended up buying more paints. Now the stash is bigger than it ever was. 

Many other "fabrics" are nice for this paint as well, certain interfacings works great and take the paint just like fabric. So a few found things in my studio got the paint treatment this summer, and are a nice addition to my stash of dyed and painted fabric waiting for a project.