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Hand Painted Dresses

A Simple and Easy Way to Dress Up Your Dresses

Painting on Fabric for Beginners: As Easy as 1-2-3

Learn how easy it is to make unique hand painted dresses and other clothes and cloth items.

The picture above is a Christmas display from my little store featuring one of my hand painted painted dresses.

Do you know how easy it is to paint clothing? I mean, who can’t draw a snowflake or a heart or a Christmas tree ornament? The designs can be very simple, yet look impressive because they’re unique and hand-painted.

Draw by hand or print a design from your computer; then transfer the design and paint.

It’s just about that simple. Some paints need heat-setting; but really, all you need to do is follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

There are so many different types of fabric paint and fabric painting techniques that it can be confusing to the beginner.

This article is limited to dimensional textile paint which comes in handy squeeze applicator bottles and acrylic paint mixed with a fabric medium.

The snowflake and Red Hat hand painted dresses pictured here were painted using Duncan Tulip Pearl Dimensional Fabric Paint and Duncan Tulip Slick Dimensional Fabric Paint respectively.

The feather and sun dresses were done with GOLDEN Acrylic Heat-Set Fabric Medium mixed with acrylic paints I already had on hand.

Dimensional Paint Qualities

You can see the dimensionality especially in the picture of the Red Hat dress.

Dimensional paint creates a thick rubbery image, yet is durable and machine washable. The manufacturer says machine wash warm and line dry. I think it is a good idea to wash your painted fabric inside-out.

Dimensional paint does not need to be heat-set.

There are many choices of colors and finishes. In addition to Tulip Pearl and Tulip Slick, Duncan makes Tulip Puffy fabric paint, Metallic, Crystal, Glittery and Glow-in-the-Dark.

Fabric Medium Qualities

Fabric medium has got to be one of the greatest recent inventions in the world of crafting. Take any acrylic paint you have on hand. Mix any color you want. Add fabric medium per label proportions.

The medium does not dilute your color. Isn’t that amazing?

The composite actually penetrates the fabric’s fibers and bonds to them. The fabric’s feel, or hand, changes imperceptibly – remaining soft and crushable. Acrylic paints transformed into fabric paints with fabric medium can be squeezed from an applicator bottle, sponged, stamped, stenciled, airbrushed, hand brushed or screened.

The finished product must be heat-set; but thereafter can be machine washed and air dried. Again, I recommend you wash your item inside-out if possible.

Steps for Making Your Hand Painted Dresses

1. Items which have been treated with Scotchguard or wrinkle resist will not accept fabric paints. Hand-painted fabric should not be dry cleaned, so choose washable fabrics.

Choose a fabric that’s compatible with your paint or choose a paint that’s compatible with your fabric. It doesn’t matter which you select first.

Tightly woven fabrics are best if you want your design to really stand out. Looser weaves give an airy look because part of the design drops out. (This wastes paint as well.)

Dimensional paints and fabric medium/acrylic blends will adhere to virtually any type of fabric but work best with medium to heavy weight fabrics such as cotton, polyester and denim.

2. Wash the fabric to remove any sizing. Do not use fabric softener. Press out any wrinkles.

3. Create your design on paper.

4. Transfer your design to the fabric. See Transfer Tips below.

5. Paint. Duncan brand Tulip paints and most other dimensional fabric paints come in handy applicator tip squeeze bottles. I like this application technique, so I apply fabric medium/acrylic blend fabric paint with a squeeze bottle as well.

Protect your work surface with blank newsprint (for light-colored fabrics) or newspaper. Wear “work clothes”. You’re painting with fabric paint. Any that gets onto the clothes you’re wearing will be extremely difficult to get out.

Put a wax or plastic-coated shirt board (designed for screen printing) or piece of wax paper between fabric layers so that your design does not bleed through to other areas of the fabric.

Smooth the fabric down. It is helpful to weight or tape it to prevent shifting as you paint.

See section below for techniques specific to the type of paint you’re using.

6. Cure. A hand painted dress painted with dimensional fabric paint should dry flat for 24 hours and cure at least another two days before washing. An item treated with fabric medium/acrylic blend should be left to dry seven days and then be heat-treated.

To heat-treat, set the iron to the appropriate heat for the fabric. Turn the item inside-out or design side down. Cover the design area with a cloth. Iron each section for 20 seconds, pressing firmly and moving the iron continuously to prevent scorching. I’ve found that a silicone sole plate cover really helps to prevent scorching.

Design Transfer Tips

Tulle netting can be used to transfer a pattern to any color fabric. Lay a piece of tulle over the paper design.

Trace the pattern onto the tulle with a black marker. Position the tulle over the fabric and trace the pattern with a contrasting color of tailor’s chalk.

If you don’t have any tulle handy, use a bright window or light box to chalk the pattern onto the back of the paper.

Position it over the fabric, chalk side down, and rub over the pattern with a bone folder or credit card to transfer the chalk to the fabric.

You can also create your own iron-on transfers using an iron-on transfer pen.

Use a bright window or light box to trace the design onto the reverse side of the pattern with the transfer pen. Follow package instructions to iron it onto your fabric.

Dimensional Paint Painting Techniques

Tulip dimensional paints come in a clever east-flow bottle that’s designed to be stored upside-down. If you’re using a different brand of dimensional paint, be sure the bottles are tightly capped before storing upside-down.

The object is to keep the paint at the painting tip and to keep air bubbles out.

Before touching the tip to the fabric, tap it down on a firm surface and squeeze out a tiny starter drop. If the tip is clogged, ream it with a pin or needle.

Ready to make your hand painted dress? Holding the bottle in your hand as you do a pencil, touch the tip directly to the fabric. This not only gives you better control of the paint, but also forms a tighter bond between the paint and the fabric.

Paint lines in segments of about three inches. Lift the paint bottle and touch it back down close to the end. This provides flex points on the fabric and ensures a better bond. Drag the tip along the pattern, squeezing as you go.

If you want less of a 3D look, hold the bottle more upright as you paint to reduce the paint flow.

Fabric Medium/Acrylic Paint Techniques

Fabric medium/acrylic blend is so versatile that you can get just about any effect you want – from a watercolor look to airbrushed to batik to sponge painting and stenciling. I chose to use the same application technique I used with the dimensional paints.

Use a well-washed empty applicator bottle from dimensional paint or one from a hair dye kit. [I save all of my hair dye squeeze bottles. They come in handy for many craft applications.]

Holding the bottle in your hand as you do a pencil, touch the tip directly to the fabric. Squeeze and drag the bottle along your pattern outline. For a lighter paint flow, hold the bottle more upright to restrict the flow.

Don’t forget to heat-set your design on your new hand painted dress. See Step 6 above.

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