colored pencils on fabric

[Beth A.]

Does anyone know how to make colored pencils permanent on fabric?
I read in a magazine that one quilter uses "textile medium" on top, but she didn't explain. My textile medium gives directions for mixing it with paint to use on fabric, but I'm not using paint.... So my questions are: 1) Do you just paint it on top of the colored area? 2) Do you need to heat set? 3) How long of a drying time would you give it? 4) Is there a test for permanency before I embroider the edges and sandwich?
If it was just a project for me, I would just experiment for as long as it takes, but I want my 4 year old daughter to color some mermaids to make into a quilt and I made the mistake of telling her about it. She has a lot of virtues, but patience is not one of them. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
-Tina, in beautiful (if a little gray today) Washington state

[Beth A.]

I know what you mean with the 4 yr old, lol. Mine are the same way. As for the pencils I am curious too as I have a whole cloth linen quilt I am making right now which I feel is screaming for some highlight coloring. I thought about using some kind of creme paint, like stencil paint, since I don't want bleed over as I will be adding color AFTER I finish the quilting. Has anyone tried that??

[Beth A.]

Mandy,
The textile medium I have (got it at Michaels) is Delta Ceramcoat and it says "Mix with Ceramcoat Acrylic Paint for a flexible, non-cracking, washable fabric paint. Penetrates fiber for permanency. Paint won't bleed." It has directions for doing that with the acrylic paint. Sounds more like what you need. Only thing I would worry about since you'll be painting AFTER quilting is that it might penetrate the batting, too, and then move with the batting over the years.
The magazine article I mentioned was about Irena Bluhm and she colors her finished whole cloth quilts with colored pencils (irenabluhmdesigns.com has a gallery if you want to see the effect). She says she uses small brushes for precision and paints the textile medium over the colored areas. Again, she doesn't mention if she heat sets or anything. Also looks like she has a book coming out sometime about how to do it - Amazon has it for pre-order but doesn't mention a publication date - my daughter's patience might not wait.
Hope this helps with your project.
-Tina

[Beth A.]

Oh, wait! Amazon DOES have a date for that book - Quilts of a Different Color - March 15, 2008. I guess that's not TOO long to wait...
-Tina

[Beth A.]

Just be aware that the colored pencils are not usually lightfast (ie, not permanent) colors. Special lightfast artists' versions of colored pencils are much more expensive and are labeled as "permanent". If they aren't labeled that way, the color will soon disappear, no matter how they are surface treated, no matter that the quilt is never washed.

If it were MY project, I'd take my daughter's colored pencil drawings, scan them, and print them out in color on fabric, as many quilters are now doing.

One woman's opinion:

[Beth A.]

What about Crayons? They make something called Fabric Crayons, so my guess is there's some permanence there, but I also had a project that called for regular crayons, heat-set with an iron. Unfortunately, that one's waiting to be given to my sister so it hasn't yet been washed so I can't tell you how it's held up... but maybe worth a try. Florence

[Beth A.]

Thanks Kaijin and Florence. I had thought about crayons, too - they're supposed to be fairly permanent unless you plan to wash often, so that's good. But my daughter doesn't really like to color with crayons all that much. She likes colored pencils - she's very particular about her methods. So I might check into those lightfast artists' colored pencils. I just don't think that scanning and printing her drawings would satisfy her need to "make a quilt."
I'll talk to her about all her options and see what she decides...
-Tina

[Beth A.]

There are several different types of gel mediums out there. I've used one called Gesso and it dries to a transparent finish - I think it comes in glossy or semi-glossy. I think I have a semi-gloss and it does change the color tone a bit but the bigger difference is in the hand of the fabric. It doesn't need to be heat set, but it does make the fabric stiffer - great for art quilts or things that aren't going to be used to snuggle up with. You might try a sample of your medium on fabric with the colored pencil just to see what the results are. You could also just experiment with colored pencil on fabric and heat setting it, then throwing it in the washing machine to see what happens - good luck!

[Barbara C.]

You might consider Fabrico markers. They are for fabric and are acid free. They are also a dual marker. Fine tip on one end and medium tip on the other end. Yummy colors, too! The drawback might be the price.
I got mine here. The prices are better than most places I looked.
http://softexpressions.com/software/paint/Fabrico.php

Barbara

[Jackie H.]

You do not mention if you are using standard colored pencils or the water soluble ones. If you use the water soluble pencils on damp (NOT wet) fabric, you heat set them by using a hot hair dryer on them BEFORE the fabric dries naturally. Learned this technique from Velda Newman at last year's Quilting Adventures in the Texas Hill Country (GREAT VENUE AND TEACHERS - see<www&gt Because the fabric is damp and the pencils are water soluble you can really blend them by rubbing almost like using pastels. I find them a great medium BUT I am not working with a 4-year-old so don't know how compatible the two are :lol: Best luck with your project! Printmaker turned fibre artist (junky?)

[Frances L.]

I have no experience with using colored pencils on fabric except seeing some quilts in Houston that were colored. The brand of pencil I heard about most was Prismacolor. I don't know anything about setting them in the fabric, sorry.
Frances in Austin

[Frances L.]

I just got my copy of "Quilts of a Different Color" by Irena Bluhm. It is all about quilting first and coloring later. Colored pencil is one of the suggested products to use. Check out this book, it has lots of lovely quilt patterns and information on making pencil permanent on fabric. Betty Ann in Fl

[Frances L.]

Thanks, my copy of Bluhm's book is already on its way. Amazon canceled my pre-order :evil: so I had to go back and re-place my order on Thursday. Hopefully it won't take too long to get here... I held my daughter off for a while by letting her design another quilt, which I then made for her. She was happy with that, but she's already asking again to make her "mermaid quilt" (with colored pencils). We want to color BEFORE the quilting, but hopefully this book will have some ideas for us.
-Tina

[Frances L.]

I've been watching Sewing with Nancy on PBS and she currently has a series on Landscape quilting. She uses Pastels on her quilts. I've done pastel paintings and pastels are very messy and come off easily. I took her book out of the library and found that she used a permanent fixative (obtained from art and craft store) to seal the pastels. This would also work with colored pencils or crayons. I haven't tried it yet - one of my next projects. Jan

[Frances L.]

I have been using Derwent coloured pencils for years and also bought them for my children when they were young, you can use them on fabric quite successfully they have quite a range, I use them on quilts. They have come up with a range called inktense which are very vibrant and beautiful I also have the artist range and watercolor, if you look up Kim Bradley who is a quilting teacher in Australia you will be able to see her "Duckbird" which was created using derwent inktense pencils a sewing machine and textile medium, it's really quite beautiful. The pencils seem to last for years they really are a great investment. Helen Stubbings is from Tasmania and she also uses derwent and one of the quilts that she has done looks like piecing but is just coloured pencils, it really is worth looking at it's called hugs'n'kisses along with others. It's worthwhile to go onto the derwent site to have a look. I use a textile medium called folkart by plaid and you can also use Josonjas textile medium I find the first to be very good you only need a very small amount Helen Stubbins has a CD out which explains how to use them all. I have the ranges in lots of 72 coloursoft is great which is the next lot I am going to get, they can change when you apply liquid as well