Stenciled Pillows & Textile Medium Tutorial

If you are new to the paint series this is day 25 of 31 days of the Power of Paint. If you'd like to see the entire series click  HERE. 25 days! I can't believe I've made it this far with 21 unique paint projects . It's an amazing feeling to accomplish a goal you have set for yourself. Hope you are enjoying my paint series so far.

 

Stenciled Pillows and Textile Medium

Since we are on the subject of Paint Mediums, I thought we'd continue with a demo of Textile Medium. I purchased some Delta Ceramicoat Textile Medium at my local Michael's. It costs about $5.00 for an 8 oz bottle. The bottle says: Transforms Acrylic Paint into a Flexible, Non-Cracking, Washable Fabric Paint and it works great.

For this project, I sewed a pillow case for a 14 x 14 pillow form out of prewashed drop cloth fabric. For supplies I used: stencil brush, black acrylic craft paint, stencils, Textile Medium, a piece of cardboard and painters tape. {Most of which have been sitting on my dining room table almost all month thanks to this 31 days challenge.}

I picked a number, in this case the year my oldest daughter was born. I layed them out and taped them down with painters tape. I inserted the cardboard into the pillow case to protect the back, in case the paint were to seep through.

I mixed 1 part Textile Medium to 2 parts acrylic paint in a plastic cup. I just guessed at this, no need for measuring spoons. I started with the Textile Medium on 1 side then acrylic on the other until they were even and then added more acrylic.

Using my stencil brush in a swirling motion, I just painted it on careful not to get under the paper stencils. I must say at this point I really noticed a difference in the paint. Having just finished painting that stripe on Samantha's Stenciled Chairs yesterday, I noticed that with the Textile Medium the paint spread easier and attached itself to the fabric more readily than without. The paint by itself took many more coats. This was smoother and the coverage was great. I guess I should have used it on my chair seats.

After I stenciled both numbers, I removed the stencils and hey, not bad. Not perfect but I'm all right with that.

I let the paint dry for at least 30 minutes, I flipped the pillow case inside out and re-inserted my cardboard to protect the back of the pillow in case the paint transferred {it didn't but it's always best to play it safe}. I set my iron to Cotton and No Steam and continually moving it for a minute or 2. The bottle says 20 seconds is all you need but who can iron for only 20 seconds?

After that, I stuffed the pillow form into the painted pillow case and sewed the bottom shut. The Textile Medium says I have to let it dry for 7 days before I can clean with warm water or machine wash on gentle cycle and air dry.

I highly recommend using this product if you are going to paint on fabric. The texture of the paint alone is rough and scratchy compared to the paint with the Textile Medium which is solid but still smooth and soft.

See ya tomorrow for another paint project!