Maybe you’ve been intrigued by the idea of painting on fabric. Maybe you’ve even tried your hand at painting a quilt, a t-shirt, a pair of shoes, or a silk scarf. But you may not have heard of the incredibly handy helpers for fabric painting called acrylic mediums. Here’s an introduction to acrylic mediums and how you can use them to enhance your fabric painting.

We recommend two different types of acrylic mediums for anyone getting started with fabric painting: fabric medium and gel medium. Both are made of the same kind of acrylic polymers that go into acrylic paints, but without the pigments.

What is fabric medium, and how can I use it?

Fabric medium is a thick fluid that looks opaque when wet but dries colorless. Fabric medium can help your fabric painting in a number of ways:

• Dilutes acrylic fabric paints or thicken acrylic fabric inks without changing their color.
• Lengthens drying time so you can blend colors wet-on-wet without racing against the clock.
• Makes painted fabric soft when it dries, counteracting acrylic paints’ and inks’ tendency to stiffen the fabric. This is especially helpful when you want to paint a quilt or garment that needs to be soft and flexible.
• Reduces color bleeding in colors that have been thinned with water.
• Helps paints penetrate the surface of rough fabrics such as heavy canvas, so your paint covers the surface evenly without having to scrub the surface first.

How much fabric medium should I use?

To extend working time or blend colors, mix fabric medium 1:1 with soft-body acrylic paint. For a heavier, more opaque look, add more paint. For a thinner, more translucent look, use more fabric medium. You can put fabric medium directly on the fabric to blend colors.

To reduce color bleeding when you use thinned paints for watercolor effects, mix fabric medium 5:1 with fabric paint.

What is gel medium, and how can I use it?

Like fabric medium, gel medium is a thick, unpigmented acrylic fluid that extends the time acrylic paint or ink stays wet, giving you more time to work getting your color blends just right. Gel medium also comes in handy in a number of other ways:

• Transfers images from paper or transparencies onto fabric.
• Glues paper or found objects to fabric for collages.
• Provides a permanent, water-resistant, UV-resistant, non-yellowing protective coating for paintings or collages.
• Seals porous surfaces such as paper before you paint them with fabric paints or inks.
• Turns any fabric into a homemade fusible. To fuse your own fabric, just coat the back of the fabric with a thin, even coat of gel medium, let the medium dry thoroughly, cut the fabric to the shape you want, then iron it to the background fabric using a pressing cloth.
• Good substitute for gesso as a ground for acrylic paints on canvas. The thicker gel mediums will show your brush strokes and help create a 3-D impasto (dimensional) effect in your painting.

Ready to experiment? Liquitex^® gel mediums are available at art or crafts stores anywhere. Soon you’ll be able to get them at your local quilt shop, too. Check back to this space for more news about painting on fabric.

To learn more about fabric painting basics, see these other articles:

• Overview of painting on fabric.
• Painting on fabric with acrylic inks.
• Ideas on fabric painting for quilters.