Written by Julia Kiryanova, Artist
Julia Kiryanova is an artist working in tapestry, painting, and works on paper from her atelier in the centre of Amsterdam. A two-time Royal Award nominee.
I paint on fabric the same way I paint on canvas. With intention, and with my hands. Some of my favourite pieces to make are garments, because you get to wear the work and carry it through your day. If you have ever wanted to turn a plain shirt or an old jacket into something only you own, here is how I would start you off.
Start with the right garment
The fabric decides almost everything. Paint behaves beautifully on natural fibres and badly on most synthetics. Cotton, linen, denim, canvas, and silk all take colour well, because the fibres are absorbent and the paint can grip them.
Slippery synthetics like polyester and nylon are a different story. The paint sits on top of the surface rather than soaking in, so it cracks and flakes the first time the garment bends or folds. If you are just beginning, save yourself the frustration and choose natural cloth.
Weight and weave matter too. A mid-weight fabric with a tight, even weave gives you a stable surface and clean edges. Loose or stretchy knits move under the brush and let colour bleed where you do not want it.
For a first project I would reach for a heavy cotton tee, a denim jacket, or a plain canvas tote. Denim and canvas are especially forgiving. They are sturdy, they hold a line, and small imperfections read as character rather than mistakes.
Always pre-wash a new garment
Yes, you need to wash a new garment before you paint it. This is the step most people skip, and it is the one that quietly ruins good work.
New clothing is coated in sizing and finishing chemicals from the factory. These coatings make the fabric feel crisp on the shelf, but they also repel paint and stop it bonding properly. Washing strips them away and gives you a clean, thirsty surface.
There is a second reason. Natural fibres shrink on their first wash. If you paint first and wash later, your careful design will pull and distort as the cloth contracts. Wash it, dry it fully, then press it flat with an iron. Skip the fabric softener, because that leaves its own residue behind.
The paint matters more than the brush
This is where projects are made or lost. Ordinary craft acrylic straight from the tube will dry hard and brittle on cloth, then crack like dried mud. You want paint that stays flexible and survives the wash. You have three good options.
Dedicated fabric paint
This is the simplest route, and the one I recommend for most people. Fabric paints are formulated to bond with fibres and to move with the cloth. They stay soft, they layer well, and they wash without fading if you set them properly. Jacquard and Pébéo both make ranges that working artists trust, from thick opaque colours to thin, dye-like washes for softer effects.
Acrylic mixed with a textile medium
If you already own artist acrylics and love a particular palette, you do not have to buy everything new. A textile or fabric medium, stirred into your acrylic, turns it into something wearable. The medium keeps the paint flexible and washable. The rule is simple. Never put raw acrylic on a garment you intend to wear.
Markers and pens for the fine lines
For lettering, outlines, and small detail, fabric markers give you the control a brush cannot. I often use them to tighten an edge or add a signature after the larger shapes are dry. They are also a gentle way to begin if a blank brush feels intimidating.
The best surfaces to paint on
To pull it together, the friendliest cloth for hand painting is natural, mid-weight, and tightly woven. Cotton, linen, denim, and canvas all fit. A lighter or white ground shows your colours truest, while a dark garment will mute everything unless you build up opaque layers first.
Silk is the exception that rewards patience. It takes colour with a luminous, watery beauty, but it demands silk-specific paints or dyes and a lighter hand. I would leave it until you have a project or two behind you. Once you understand how paint and fibre talk to each other, silk is a joy.
Setting up before you begin
Slide a piece of cardboard inside the garment before you start. It stops the paint bleeding through to the back, and it gives you a firm, flat surface to work against. Lay everything out so the fabric is smooth and taut.
Sketch your design lightly first. Tailor's chalk or a water-soluble pencil both vanish later and let you plan without committing. Then work in thin layers and build the colour up gradually. Less water means more control, more water means a soft, flowing wash. Let each colour dry before you lay the next one beside it, and the whole thing stays crisp.
Make it last
A painted garment is only finished once you have set the paint. Let the work cure first. Most paints want at least twenty-four hours of drying before you fix them.
Then heat-set it. Place a clean cotton cloth over your design and press it with a hot, dry iron, moving steadily for a few minutes with no steam. Always check the instructions on your paint, because some brands prefer a tumble dryer or simply a longer cure. Heat is what bonds the colour into the fibre for good.
Wash gently from then on. Wait around three days after setting before the first wash, turn the garment inside out, use cold water and a mild cycle, and let it air dry. Treated kindly, hand-painted cloth holds its colour for years.
A wearable kind of art
There is something honest about painting on clothing. A canvas hangs on a wall and waits. A painted jacket goes out into the world, gathers a little wear, and becomes part of how you move through your days. The marks soften, the story grows, and no two pieces ever end up the same.
Start with one plain garment and a single colour you love. Keep your first design simple. The craft teaches you quickly, and the only real way to learn it is to put brush to cloth.
If you would rather wear a piece made by hand in my Amsterdam atelier, you can see the painted garments in our clothing collection, or read more about how the studio came to be on our Our Story page.
