Painting on top of tie-dye - what kind of paint?

[Rebekah]

If I wanted to paint on top of tie-dye, what kind of paint is best?  I'd like it to be washer/dryer safe once it's completed.  Any suggestions?

[pburch]

Any paint that is specifically marketed for use on fabric will work. Thinner paints give a softer feeling on the fabric. Thicker paints can feel a little scratchy. Fabric markers are the most convenient type of fabric paint and cannot usually be felt at all. Metallic fabric paints such as Lumiere give cool effects when painted onto hand dyed fabric (dry the fabric first). I've used puffy paints to good effect on t-shirt designs, but they can be ruined by being machine-dried.

The main problem with fabric paints is that they tend to wear off from abrasion in the washer and dryer. Turning inside out to wash, and line drying instead of machine-drying, can help slow the wear, but those are inconvenient for children's clothing.

Thickened Procion MX dye can be applied like fabric paint, but is more permanent, because it does not wear off.

(Two of my pages that are relevant are Fabric Paints: a different way to color fibers, and Sodium alginate, Superclear, and other dye thickeners, which is part of my FAQ.)

Paula

[Rebekah]

Thanks for your input;  seems like the best for children's clothes would be the thickened dye.  Doesn't leave the fabric stiff and can be put in the dryer.  But if the garment is dyed already, I would need to discharge the area first, right?

[pburch]

That's the same for dyes as for paints. Most fabric paints are transparent. The only fabric paint that does not require either a light-colored background, or a background color that will mix in well with the foreground color, would be an opaque, metallic, or pearlescent fabric paint. Any fabric paint that does not specify that it is opaque, or metallic or pearlescent, will be transparent and therefore will not show well on top of a dark background color.

Regardless of what you are painting with, it works well to dye the background with assorted bright clear colors and then paint on top of that with a good dark black.

Fabric paint is the only way to get a metallic gold or silver. Metallic paints can look really good on top of dye.

Paula