Painting fabric is something I always wanted to do. I've seen gorgeous examples on Pinterest and knew I had to try. This chair from my grandmother is the perfect chair to try it on. It's a chair that I always sat in at her house. At the time it was covered in a textured orange vinyl. After she gave it to me I had it recovered in gold velvet, in the 80's.
The project is a great way to get a new look with out spending a fortune.
Here's how I did it;
first I sprayed the fabric with water to really wet it down. Next, I mixed together equal parts acrylic paint and textile medium, thinned it with water and painted the chair in many thin coats, letting it dry thoroughly before adding another coat. I sanded any spots that felt stiff or rough between coats and that really made the fabric soft.
You can read all the details HERE, http://www.thebungalowblog.com/2012/01/paint...
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I can recommend this technique for a chair in a guest room or one that is not used a lot. The fabric will still be somewhat stiff but does get softer with sanding. The success of this project depends on the type of fabric. All fabrics will take paint differently and this works best on fabric that doesn't have a nap. My chair had velvet, so I had to do quite a bit of sanding. Give it a try, the paint does not rub off on your clothes and you can make a sad chair look very happy again!
I think I know what I did wrong on my first and only attempt at "painting" a fabric chair. We had gotten this chair at an auction and I painted it but did not thin the paint/textile medium w/water first so it came out looking like vinyl!!!
You can read all the details HERE, http://www.thebungalowblog.com/2012/01/paint...
Thank you so much for your input. Apparently everyone but me knew sanding was an integral part of the process :~)
Since this was a satin type fabric w/no nap I'm a little apprehensive but what's the worst than can happen. I can see velvet being sanded just to raise the nap, being a fuzzy fabric to begin with. Oh me - we'll see ;~}
Couldn't make it any worse!! LOL
Thanks for all you patience and explainations - I'll let you know what the outcome is!!