Thread Painting Technique – Fun Of Painting On Fabric!

A DIY post on how to make abstract fabric painting using techniques of thread painting. This post also covers the tips for creating a skilful work.

Hello Friend!

I hope you remember the green sari I painted. Ms Deepa Prabhu, an awesome fellow blogger of mine, who writes in her awesome blog Random Photography, had requested for a detailed post on the techniques. So today’s post is to elaborate the techniques I have used to paint that sari. Wait, I did prepare for all the techniques used in my sari. But, at the last moment I felt, the post would be lengthy for a beginner and hence, I have limited it to one technique – that is thread painting.

Thread Painting Technique

 This is a fun-filled abstract painting technique that is done using a thread.

Thread Painting – Effects On A Synthetic Sari

Difficulty level: Easy

Skill level: Basic

Time taken to design a square feet area: About 5 minutes

Design Application: Almost on anything! Kerchiefs, Stoles, Kammez, Salwar, sari, Blouses, Bedspreads, Curtains and so on!

Requirements

Desired Fabric (Pre-washed and ironed)

Fabric Paint

Paint Brushes or tooth brush

Thick Cotton Thread

Waste Paper or a thin card board

Thread Painting – Materials Required

How to Make Thread Painting?

1. Load the cotton thread with fabric paint using a paint brush or a tooth brush.

Thread Painting – Loading Cotton Thread With Fabric Paint

2. Spread the pre-washed fabric on a newspaper covered table. Newspaper absorbs any extra paint and it also protects the table from paint. Place the paint loaded thread randomly on the desired area of the fabric.

Thread Painting – Cotton Thread Lightly Loaded With Fabric Paint Laid On Pre-washed Fabric

3. Quickly cover it entirely with a waste paper (or a thin card board) as shown. Apply pressure using one hand and pull the thread lightly with the other hand.

Thread Painting – Press Loaded Cotton Thread On Pre-washed Fabric and Pull

4. Remove the paper. Just watch how an amazing abstract thread painted design is formed. Repeat this method several times at different areas. I made a design as shown below.

Thread Painting – Some Striking results

Some of the random thread placing ideas for thread painting are shown below. They are real fun! Just place, press and pull!

Thread Painting – Some Ideas For Placing Loaded Thread On Fabric

Tips For Achieving Best Thread Painting Results:

1. Always check with a sample fabric prior to design with the actual fabric.
2. Try pulling from different directions. Watch how interestingly the designs are formed, unexpectedly.
3. Different fabrics act differently. Delicate designs form in thread painting technique. This is effectively formed on cotton, silks and any other fabric made of natural fibre. Synthetic fabric produces a different result as in the green sari shown. Try varying pressure and direction of pull. Choose the one you feel good.
4. Fabric paint must be of medium thickness for better results. Try different thicknesses of paint and varying loads of paint on the thread. Again make choice.
5. Try with different threads of different thickness. Semi-absorbent threads result more exciting textures.
6. Creativity has no boundary. So, try anything your own. For example, double colour effects can be tried by applying two colours in different areas.

Now, tell me, was this DIY useful? Will you try thread painting technique? Feel free to leave your comments on this post. They are valuable for me. If you face any difficulty in commenting, e-mail me at sindhoooo@gmail.com

Take care!

Bye until the next post!

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