Curiosity has gotten the better of me the past few months and I’ve started experimenting with painting on fabric.  I’m sure I should stick to piecework and quilting but I absolutely had to try deColourant.  To be exact, deColourant Plus.  So, I bought basic red, blue and yellow which theoretically can be mixed to get everything else….right???  Also picked up a couple earthy tones and a silver because they came all together and I liked them.

On all the samples, I dried with a hair dryer to speed the process up and then heat set with an iron.

First experiment with DeColourant

For my first experiment I drew a basic flower with leaves and used a RJR black fabric.    It took a lot of paint to make the color stand out.  Little if any went to the back so I’m not sure what was “removed”.

Next, same design on a blue.  Now I can see what I am doing a bit better.  I added the little 1″ border for trim and will get around to quilting it someday.  Maybe add some paint to that background and make it a little less blue.  Quilting would pretty much cure that problem also.

Second experiment, same design.

Third….what happens if you use a print?  Takes on a very translucent effect with the lighter colors.  I am going to add flowers below the butterfly and keep on experimenting.

DeColourant on a print

Lastly,  a black Moda Marble.  This time I kept the paint a bit more sparse and subtle to see what or how much the designs would show up.  It is muted which works for this design.

DeColourant on Moda Marble

I am finding the fabric a bit stiff which I’m not fond of but none of the samples have been washed yet.   Washing will probably soften things up a bit.  More experimenting in store and I’m thinking I need more colors.

To achieve the designs I drew them out of freezer paper, ironed one sticky side to a dull side to obtain  a slightly thicker template,  cut out what I wanted to color and then ironed the pattern onto the background fabric.