Make your own fabric designs by using a stamp on fabric with textile paints. You can use any type of stamp — either purchased or one you make yourself. Here is how to stamp on fabric.
Stamping on fabric is one of many techniques to embellish the surface of your fabric, adding your personal mark to your projects. I wanted flies on fabric for a quilt in our Letters Home series, where my mother talks about how the flies were terrible. I couldn’t find a good fly stamp, so I made my own to make my own fabric.
How to Stamp on Fabric
Make your own fabric designs with a stamp and textile paints!
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Stamping on fabric is a fun and easy project and you create designs that are unique and all yours. Generally, larger stamps work better (larger than 1"). Delicate, small stamps with fine details are best suited for ink and paper.
You can print on solid fabrics or on prints as I did in this tutorial. Spiff up an ugly fabric with some textile paint stamping! Yes, you really can make an ugly kinda interesting with just a little paint and time.
Once you start stamping fabrics, you won't stop - you'll look at each piece of fabric a little differently. What can you add to make it more interesting?
Materials
- Textile paint
- Fabric
Tools
- Brayer
- Gelli plate
- Stamp
- Painter's tape
Instructions
- Gather your supplies for stamping your fabric. I choose this printed fabric for my stamping and made my own stamp for the fly - I couldn't find one that suited my vision for this fabric to use in an art quilt.
- Using painter's tape, carefully tape your base fabric to your surface. I used a vinyl tablecloth to protect my table from the paint. You can use a piece of plexiglass or other plastic tablecloths to protect your table.
Pour about 1 teaspoon of textile paint onto your Gelli plate. Use the brayer to make a very think layer of paint on the Gelli plate. Using a Gelli plate makes a cushioned surface for the paint, making it easy to get an even coat of paint on your stamp. It acts like a stamp pad for the textile paints. - Gently press your stamp onto the paint, and then gently press the stamp onto your fabric.
- Continue stamping until you are satisfied with your new fabric design. When the paint on your Gelli plate gets used, put a little more on the plate and repeat spreading it evenly with your brayer.
- When you are satisfied with your design, allow the paint to dry on the fabric. If you want to add a second (or more) colors, now is the time to do that. You'll want the fabric to dry between layers of paint.
Once you are done stamping and the fabric is dry, heat set your fabric with your iron according to the directions on the textile paint. Now your new fabric design is ready to use in a project!
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Tips for stamping on fabric:
- Prepare your fabric by washing and drying to remove any coatings that might interfere with the paint.
- Use a brayer to spread your textile paint very thin on a soft surface like a Gelli plate to evenly coat the paint on your stamp.
- Use painter’s tape to tape your fabric to a softer surface. I use a vinyl tablecloth over a cardboard cutting board. This protects my table from any spills or if the paint gets too thick and bleeds through the fabric. And the thick cardboard has a little give to make a nice impression.
- As you stamp, continue to use your brayer and spread the paint to be stamped very thinly on your Gelli plate. If needed, add a little more paint.
What ink or paints do you use to stamp on fabrics?
You can use acrylic paints, but sometimes they don’t hold up as well as textile paints. Also, you can use a permanent ink stamp pad. They are a lot more expensive and don’t have much ink, so be aware if you plan on embellishing a large piece of fabric. I like to use textile paints. To make the stamp permanent, be sure to follow the paint directions to set the paint. Generally, textile paints are heat set with an iron.
Here are my flies, now with wings. I fused metallic sheer fabric to each stamped fly to give them wings.
Try your hand to stamp on fabric – see how you can customize your fabric for your next project!
Browse through more surface design inspiration and projects on Create Whimsy.
See this fabric in my Letters Home: Cutting the Grass and Feeding the Sheep quilt.