| With all the choices at your local fabric store, why | | | | like a watercolor. You can make your own stamps by |
| design your own? Because when you're the designer | | | | cutting "foamie" sheets and gluing them onto |
| you can personalize your fabric just the way you | | | | cardboard or foamcore blocks. There are an unlimited |
| want it. | | | | amount of stamps and stencils in your local hobby |
| Need a summer tote bag? White cotton fabric with a | | | | store that are not just for scrapbooking. Use them. |
| brushed blue wave design or a simple sun motif | | | | You may want to keep part of your design unpainted. |
| provides that touch of personalization. For inspiration | | | | This is when you use a resist. Depending on whether |
| take a look through your mail order catalogs or online | | | | you are dyeing or painting, again, there are several |
| at home store web sites. | | | | choices to do this. |
| To get color on the fabric you're either going to dye it | | | | For dye baths, you will need a resist that will stand up |
| or paint it. There are so many options for dyes and | | | | to the immersion in water for long periods of time, as in |
| fabric paints and each one has its own methods, so | | | | a batik. You can buy special batik resists from the |
| you'll need to read the directions carefully. You'll also | | | | same suppliers who sell the dyes. If you are going to |
| need to know what type of fabric you have. Not all | | | | paint, you can use a liquid resist such as washable |
| dyes work on all fabrics and the dye packet will tell | | | | school glue or a flour paste (cornflour and water |
| you which fabrics to use. | | | | mixed to a thick liquid consistency). Once dry, these |
| You can buy fabric "blanks," that is, scarves, bags, or | | | | resists will keep paint from soaking into the fabric. |
| clothing already made in a light fabric and that you can | | | | Watery paints may bleed a little under a thin coat of |
| add your own designs to. | | | | resist. This isn't always bad-you may like the effect. |
| If you have a couple of yards of fabric and want to | | | | Other ideas for resists include masking tape and |
| use just one or two colors, dyeing will work the best. If | | | | cutting your own designs from wax paper or freezer |
| you want to put a more detailed design on a smaller | | | | paper. These are not usually re-usable. |
| piece of fabric, use fabric paints. With fabric paints you | | | | By personalizing your own fabric, you get to use the |
| can paint a design on fabric with a brush just like you | | | | colors and motifs you want. It isn't hard to do and |
| would paint a picture. But that's just the beginning. You | | | | you're also stretching your creative and artistic |
| can also spray paint, stamp, use stencils or a silk | | | | muscles. And you can bet that no-one else will ever |
| screen. You can wet the fabric and drip different | | | | be carrying the same bag as yours. |
| colors onto the fabric where it will blossom and pool | | | | |