fabric paint

Paint designed specially for the decoration and colouring of fabric. Some fabric paints can be painted directly on fabric and some are transfer paints, which are painted on paper and then ironed on to fabric.

Fabric paint can be applied using a range of different techniques and tools, including paintbrushes, sponges, and sprays. Designs can be painted freehand or stencils may be used. Paintings have been found on fabrics dating back to the time of the Ancient Egyptians. The Japanese are particularly known for combining painting with embroidery. In Britain, fabric painting gradually became fashionable during the late 18th century, initially using watercolours. In the 19th century, vegetable dyes and oil paints were also used on material. In the late 20th century, fabric painting became popular and a wide range of different specialist paints was developed. Most of these modern fabric paints are soluble in water.

Paint spreads very easily on silk, so a resist solution called gutta is used to enclose the areas to be painted. The gutta is applied using a fine paintbrush or outliner. Gutta comes in a range of different colours, but silver, gold, or clear solutions are the most common.