What are some good fabric paints?

[Betty J.]

I want to paint hands and faces on some of my quilts and I don't want to spend a fortune in paints. I heard somewhere that adding aloe vera gel to acrylic paints makes them a pretty good medium. Does this work? Have any of you tried it? Does anyone have other suggestions? I want the painted area to end up soft, and I don't mind heat setting and washing. I would welcome your ideas. Cheers, BJ

[Paula D.]

Bonnie McCaffery is all I have to say!!

[Paula D.]

You might also try Patt Blair. http://www.pattsart.com/

JoAnne

[Paula D.]

I have recently used the aloe vera gel with the garden variety fabric paints from Michaels'/ Hobby Lobby and then thinned them with water also. It works like a charm and the fabric remained quite soft. I started fabric painting over 20-some years ago. I only used what I could buy locally, using both fabric and acrylic. These items have gone through the wash some very many times and they remain in rather remarkable shape. I believe the common fabric paints and acrylics are very similar in their composition. the acrylic paints are thicker though. I will post a Christmas Bear sweatshirt I did over 20 years ago to my profile. It is still in good shape.

[Jean H.]

set a color or maybe 1 word setacolor

[Jean H.]

If you are painting on pfd fabric, it's hard to beat Procion MX dyes for softness and beautiful color. Otherwise, I like to mix regular artist acrylics with Golden's GAC 900, which is heat set. Liquitex also makes a great fabric medium.

Have not tried aloe vera gel, but it sounds a lot like Procion dyes mixed with alginate??

I also like Jacquard Lumiere paints.

[Jean H.]

I just bought my first fabric paint and fabric ink about a week ago, though I haven't had a chance to try them. The clerk in the quilt shop that I bought them at didn't know much about the ones that I bought, but did tell me that the Tsukineko All-Purpose Ink should be mixed with aloe vera gel and that the fabric remains soft. The paint that I bought was Jacquard Textile Traditionals' set of 9 bottles, and the instructions in the package said that they could be used straight or you could add water or "extender". They had a sample quilt sandwich that had been painted with these that was very soft.

I'm new to art quilting and thread painting, but am part of an art quilt group elsewhere that does swaps about once a quarter, and wanted to add a little bit of painting to my next swap block. Since I haven't even finished creating the design from my initial concept, I still have time to learn more about the fabric paints I got, so if anyone can give me a little advice regarding these two paints/ink, I would really appreciate it!

[Margo C.]

Mary, I used the Tsukineko All-Purpose Inks to do the artwork for my grandchildren's quilt, and didn't mix them with anything! Used 'em right out of the bottle. They have to be heat set, but then the colors stay beautiful even through washings and the fabric stays soft.

[Margo C.]

Thanks, Margo!! That's great feedback!! There is so little out there regarding that ink, and I was unsure of the proportion of aloe gel to ink. I didn't know to buy their special types of brushes or a dropper, so just using it straight on a paintbrush will simplify things a great deal. I've never painted before, and am very new to art quilting and thread painting, so if there are any other tips like types of brushes, etc, I would really appreciate it. I love your grandchildren's quilt!

Mary

[Margo C.]

You can order Fantastix from Jukebox Quilts that work with the Fabric Inks. They come in either a round (bullet) tip or a pointed (brush) tip. They aren't really brushes, but more like stiff markers so that you just dip the tip into the bottle and apply the color to the fabric. I found them really easy to work with and especially like the set-up where the Fantastix are arranged in the wooden stand beside the appropriate ink color!

http://www.jukeboxquilts.com/store/inkSupplies.html

[Margo C.]

Thanks for the tip and the link! I will have to go check it out. How long have you been painting your fabrics?

[Margo C.]

That's the only one I've done and it was just copying the children's artwork, and that's about as artsy as I can manage!! LOL!!!

[Margo C.]

That's the only one I've done and it was just copying the children's artwork, and that's about as artsy as I can manage!! LOL!!!

Oh, puleessseee, Everything you do is art!

[Margo C.]

Oh, yeah...I just remembered.... ops: .....I did two other quilts with these fabric inks! I did one complete quilt for Jordanne with just her artwork, and one for Jacob with just his! Do we see a pattern here??? :roll:

[Betty J.]

Thanks for the jukebox link again and reminder about fantastix. I think I will have to try them. Funny...I posted this question long ago. Nice to see this discussion relit. Cheers.