Dying Fabric With Paint

by Recreated Designs

2 Materials

Using Chalk, Milk or Mineral paint to dye fabric is an easy and fun way to match any colour in your home. I have been wanting a new shower curtain in one of my bathrooms for quite sometime and used some Country Chic Paint and muslin to make an inexpensive and bright new one.

dying fabric with paint, chalk paint, crafts, reupholster

This particular bathroom is pretty small and doesn't have a window so it can be quite dark. For the past few years I just had a plain white shower curtain hanging and it was getting pretty worn and kept shrinking in the wash.

I really wanted a change and to add something that would complement the large picture in there while adding some colour to the small space.

I had found this bolt of muslin for next to nothing last year (literally... it was 90% off!!!) so decided to use some of it to make the new shower curtain. As much a I love the look of natural muslin (I think it is so pretty looking!), I wanted something with some colour for this particular space.

I have used paint to dye fabric before (see that project here) and really liked the look so knew that was the perfect solution to colour the muslin.

Dying fabric with paint is quite easy but if you are trying to achieve a certain colour, as I was, it may take a little trial and error. I used Country Chic Paint in Cherry Blossom (pink) and an orange colour (that for the life of me, I can't remember the name of) to mix with the water. Tip: do not use latex paint for dying... chalk type paints like County Chic or Annie Sloan or a milk paint like Miss Mustard Seed work best.

To dye the fabric, simply add some of the paint to a bucket of room temperature water, add some table salt (to help set the colour) and drop in the fabric. Make sure to swirl it around to soak up the water and dye and then let it sit for awhile depending on how concentrated you want the colour to be. Tip: I would strongly suggest doing this project outside so that you don't have to worry about getting the dye on anything :)

I had pre-cut my pieces into the sizes I would need before dying them so after I got the desired colour, all I needed to do was sew them all together.

The new shower curtain adds such a wonderful pop of colour to the little bathroom and completely brightens up the space.

Dying fabric with paint is the perfect way to get a colour that you love and an inexpensive and non-traditional way to use paint in your home.

To check out my first failed colour matching attempt... hop over to the original blog post.

Enjoyed the project?

You can do it! Saved to your projects

Frequently asked questions

Have a question about this project?

Ask a Question

3 of 5 questions

Lori on Apr 26, 2016
What does the fabric feel like after you dyed it and washed it??

3
Evelyn McClung Land on Apr 27, 2016
Does this fade a bad as dying with Ritz dye?

1
Maureen Cannon Avagliano on Mar 13, 2018

I have a window seat cushion and would like to use this method to change. It is a floral pattern and I'd be making it a solid color. Do you think it would work?

1

Comments

Join the conversation

4 of 27 comments

M. M.. on Apr 25, 2016
Did you put dry muslin into the paint water? Would it work more evenly if the fabric was already soaked in plain water?

1 Reply
- Recreated Designs on Apr 25, 2016
  I did put the dry muslin right in. It dyed it very evenly and I didn't get any splotches. I would think wetting it first would work well too I just haven't tried it that way yet. Please let me know if that works too if you try it... I always love to learn more ;)
  
  Like
Sherry Fram on Apr 25, 2016
Awesome color & it looks great in your bathroom! Great job!

1 Reply
- Recreated Designs on Apr 25, 2016
  Thanks Sherry :). It definitely brightens up the space.
  
  Like