Fabric painting gives you the chance to practice your art and creativity on the very versatile substrate of fabric and textiles. There are some great benefits to fabric painting. It allows you to customize clothes, wearable textiles, as well as fabric for upholstery and other crafts. The majority of fabric painting uses paint specifically formulated for textiles. Other than that, though there are few techniques to distinguish fabric painting from other paintings that you might do on paper or canvas. Nonetheless, there are some important considerations to help preserve your fabric painting and find your style.

Most fabric paints require you to prepare the fabric before painting. This is a crucial step to preserve the painting. After all, you don’t want to go through all the work of painting a piece that you like, only to find it peeling off or becoming faded. Your preparations will depend on the fabric paint you use. This means that the instructions for that individual paint brand will be the best resource for the specific preparations that you will need to make.

You will always need to pre-wash the fabric. Pre-washing helps to clear out chemicals and starches that may remain in the fabric from manufacturing and shipping. When pre-washing, make sure not to use fabric softeners of any kind, as these will inhibit the absorbent quality of the fabric.Once the fabric is washed and dried, you’ll also want to iron it out. Wrinkles will make it difficult to paint your designs. Additionally, prepare the area by giving yourself a clean space to work.