Can you use acrylic paint on fabric?

Testing paint on fabric

I was looking for a way to paint dots on my ombre tie-dyed shirts. The look I’m going for is a tropical fish pattern or a rainbow trout pattern where there are usually two layers of color. I use dye for the ombre and then add contrasting dots with fabric paint because it is opaque and stands out on top of the dye.

Acrylic paint on shirts

In my research, acrylic paint technically works on fabric, but it is not long lasting. It can crack and peel with normal washing. It does not need any heat setting or curing, but it also does not bond deeply, so it is not going to last forever.

Jacquard Products

The two options I tested are screen printing ink that is water based and the Lumiere fabric paints that are specifically made for fabric. Screen printing inks are also meant for fabric, but they are usually aimed at professional screen printers using a totally different setup. You do not need any of that equipment. You can apply the ink however you want.

I put mine into a tie dye squirt bottle and watered it down so it would flow the same way as fabric paint.

Working with ink

The fabric paint comes thinner right out of the bottle and is probably easier for beginners. It also comes in a wider range of colors in smaller bottles, which is nice if you want a lot of options. The screen printing ink starts thicker, but I do not mind thinning it to the consistency I like. I also do not mind mixing colors.

Both the screen printing ink and the fabric paint will be more durable than acrylic paint. Both need heat setting so the pigment bonds to the fibers. I prefer the feel of screen printing ink once it is dry. It reminds me of a regular screen printed shirt.

How I painted this shirt

On the orange shirt in the photos, I used the tie dye bottle to dot turquoise screen printing ink all over one side. It took around ten minutes. It will probably go faster on the second side now that I have the rhythm down.

After the ink dries completely, I run the shirt through the dryer to set it. Then I wash and dry it normally. If it survives that first wash, you know it is properly set and you will not have any slow failure later.

How much water

The only experimenting you need to do is figuring out how much water to add when thinning the ink. There is a point where too much water weakens the bonding, but I have added close to 40% water and it still worked fine on the sweatshirt where I used gray dots.