Priming Fabric

[slightlytriangle]

Hi all I have a question about priming fabric and was wondering if anyone could help me please

I use painted calico fabric in my work, painting on it then stitching into it. I've been priming it with gesso or painting directly onto it with acrylic paint and was wondering if this sounded like it would last well enough/ be stable enough for selling and exhibiting, or whether I should be using something else like a size on the fabric before the gesso or paint?

Any thoughts much appreciated

[Cyndi L]

You absolutely want to get RID of any size on the fabric! Acrylic and gesso are not like dyes, which chemically bind to the fabric. They simply coat the fibers, and so they do run a risk of wearing off due to abrasion, water, sun, etc. They are definitely stable enough, especially if you heat set them and don't make them too thick. I don't use gesso for primer at all...just paint directly on my fabrics and they hold up very well. Warn your customers against washing in any way but by hand though.

Welcome to the MM forum!

[vissi_d_artemaria]

Originally Posted by atfs

Hi all I have a question about priming fabric and was wondering if anyone could help me please

I use painted calico fabric in my work, painting on it then stitching into it. I've been priming it with gesso or painting directly onto it with acrylic paint and was wondering if this sounded like it would last well enough/ be stable enough for selling and exhibiting, or whether I should be using something else like a size on the fabric before the gesso or paint?

Any thoughts much appreciated

GAC 900 (made by Golden) is a fabric medium that's added to acrylic paint. It has to be heat set. It gives the paint pliability and stability on fabric and allows the fabric to be laundered.

[slightlytriangle]

Hi both and thank you so much for your help

I think I have gotten rid of the size or anything which would've been on the fabric when I bought it, I washed it in the machine with a small amount of detergent so hopefully that will have done the job. It's good to know that you use paint directly onto fabric sucessfully

With the fabric medium, I use a Liquitex fabric medium occasionally but not all of the time, presumably this does a similar job to the Golden stuff? I must admit I don't mind if the fabric goes a bit hard as I make wall hangings rather than clothing or anything that needs to be used or washed, so I don't mix in the fabric medium all of the time.

Thank you both again