Fabric that is all my own....

Stenciling on fabric is a great way to build a stash of fabric that is uniquely yours. I use a lot of commercial fabrics but the ones I like most are the ones I've "made" myself using a variety of surface design techniques.

My last post was about using Pebeo Steacolor textile paints (which, I think act more as easy to use dyes) and sunshine to stencil designs on fabric. I wound up with a nice pile of fabrics to take to the next step, adding another layer of stencil design with acrylic paint.
I used Liquitex acrylic paints and their textile medium, mixing about equal parts of paint and medium. Using straight acrylic paint works also but the "hand" of the fabric is significantly changed by straight acrylic paint. I like using the textile medium because the paint is a little more transluscent and the hand of the fabric does not become stiff.

I use stencil brushes to apply the paint, tapping & swirling the paint through the stencil to get good detail. After dipping the brush in the paint, it is important to "tap off" most of the paint onto a paper towel. You should be using a semi-dry looking brush - too much paint leads to globs of paint seeping under the stencil and ruins the design. On some of the pieces, I used a nearly dry stencil brush with remnants of black paint to get the shaded effect.

Next, I plan to do a little discharging with bleach pen and maybe do a little stamping with some stamps I made using fun foam. After that, I'll be using the fabric to make some small quilts and a tote bag or two. I'll post some pictures of the finished fabrics next weekend and of the finished projects shortly thereafter.