Painting on Fabric With Acrylic Paint: Is It Possible?

Expressing yourself through painting surely is creative and nice, and, as we all know, most painters use acrylic paint to do so.

However, the problem occurs when you change the sheet and the platform of your painting, especially if you want to paint with acrylic paint on fabric material.

Anyhow, we bring the good news. Namely, painting on fabric with acrylic paint is doable, but you’ll have to follow some required steps.

Now, there are some things that you need to understand so you can paint on fabric. Luckily, we will discuss everything about this subject and show you the best way to paint on fabric. Let’s begin.

Does Acrylic Paint Work On Fabric?

As you might suspect, acrylic paint is not suitable for fabric materials. However, there is a simple solution that you can do and achieve the best possible results when it comes to painting on fabric.

Besides getting a specially designed paint that works on fabric, you can also create your own paint and express yourself on the fabric. There are a few things that you should know about this exact subject.

Now, what you need to do here is to mix your already existing stash of acrylic paint with a pinch of Liquitex Fabric Medium. Also, you can use GAC 900 fabric Medium as well.

Nevertheless, you will see that these two ingredients will allow you to achieve the best possible results on fiber.

Anyhow, let’s see a bit more about this, shall we?

What is Fabric Medium?

Before putting anything in your acrylic paint, it is first important to know everything about the Fabric Medium. Namely, this is a liquid acrylic polymer that is specially designed to enrich your acrylic paint.

This ingredient ensures a soft feel and provides stability to your paintings without damaging the design or the fabric in this case.

Fabric Medium will ensure that you achieve the best results when painting on the fiber material. It will improve your work and allow your paintbrush to flow freely in your hand.

However, the best thing about Fabric Medium is that it will control the bleeding when painting. This means that you will be able to control the color bleeding and perform in the best possible light.

Acrylic paint on fiber material definitely stands no chance against the acrylic paint mixed with Fiber Medium. We will show you why!

Acrylic Paint vs Acrylic with Fabric Medium

The best way to see the difference in results is to test this; however, we can’t do that every time. Therefore, let’s say a few words about this subject.

The effect that fabric has in combination with acrylic paint is absolutely amazing. This will allow the paint to maintain a proper level of elasticity and improve the flexibility of the paint.

In that light, you will most likely perform better and achieve the wanted results.

On the other hand, using only acrylic paint on fiber material will surely not be a pleasant experience. Namely, the paint will be stiff, and the texture will soak up the water from the paint.

Therefore, you won’t be able to do everything you had on your mind. We all know that limiting your creativity is never a good thing.

However, there are some advantages of using only acrylic paint on fabric material, but only in certain scenarios.

For example, if you want to paint on fabric and use it to display your work, and not to wear them, you can use only acrylic paint.

However, if you want to wear the piece of fabric you painted, it is absolutely important to use the Fabric Medium.

Otherwise, you will end up with a stiff piece of cloth that will most likely wash away after a few trips to the laundry room.

Acrylic Paint on Fabric Without Medium

There are a few things that you need to know to paint without the fabric medium mix on fabric. First, wearing an apron is recommendable since you will most likely get stained very easily.

Besides that, here are some tips that you can consider if you don’t want to use Fabric medium with acrylic paint to paint on fabric.

1. Prepare the Fabric

Before you start painting on fabric with only acrylic paint, it is recommended to wet the fabric first. Why, you may ask? When the fabric is wet, you will be able to perform better and spread the paint evenly as you want to.

Also, using a spray bottle is the best way to wet the fabric since you don’t want to soak the fabric in water thoroughly.

2. Prepare the Paint

Painting on fabric is not the same as painting on canvas. Therefore, you must know how much water to add to your acrylic paint. It is recommended to add a little bit less water than you are used to.

This will improve the application as well and allow you to paint in the best possible way.

3. Use a Sand Paper

If you are having trouble with too much paint that you applied on your fabric, it is good to know that you can use sandpaper.

Simply speaking, you can lightly scuff the fabric in order to improve the adhesion of the paint. This will provide the best possible results for sure.

Nevertheless, painting on fabric without the Fabric Medium mix requires a bit more effort and patience. As you can see, using Fabric Medium is a good thing, and it will ensure that you do everything as you would want to.

Conclusion

There you go. We have explained to you the reason why most of the experienced fabric painters use Fabric Medium to paint on fabric.

You can always put aside the Fabric Medium and use only acrylic paint, but the results will never be the same.

Now, it’s up to you to decide whether you will use Fabric Medium and enhance your work and results, or use only acrylic paint and put extra effort into your painting.