Experiments With Dyeing #3

So far, I've had fun making tie dye and sun prints. Wanting to continue my experiments, I got out my acrylic paints and was curious if I could dye fabric with them. Since I still had some fabric left, I decided to give it a try!

 I clicked around online and found out that yes, I could! One of the tutorials I found used acrylic paint for sun printing. For these squares, I mixed up the paint with fabric medium and water, then painted the paint onto the wet fabric squares.

I really pressed the leaves into the paint then set them out in the sun on my driveway. It was a perfect hot and sunny day and these were drying out when suddenly, a random thunderstorm rolled through and drenched my squares! Luckily, they had dried enough to make the print!

The fern is my favorite. Even with the fabric medium, these turned out a little stiff, like the paint on a t-shirt design. I heat set the paint in the dryer and then pressed out the fabric with an iron.

Next, I watered down the acrylic paint with more water to do a small tie dye.

I like this! I wish the turquoise would've come out stronger, though. 

I didn't want my leftover mixed up paints to go waste, so I grabbed some rocks from outside to try this shibori technique and slapped the paint on the fabric. 

It took quite awhile for this to dry, this also was drenched in the downpour. 

Look at how fun this turned out! I heat set the paint in the dryer and then ironed out the wrinkles. This is what it looks like after being washed. 

So that's the last of my dyeing experiments! I'm glad I tried using acrylic paint because I already had them on hand and was able to create something I like without having to buy anything new. I think the acrylic paint with the fabric medium works best for painting on fabric rather than dyeing because it does sit on the surface of the fabric more than evenly soaking through like a dye. Although, I was able to get a subtle dyed look on the tie dye piece by adding more water to the paint. I'm looking forward to trying more fabric dyeing in the future! 

Linking up with Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts