Did you know you can make your own sun printed fabric and you don’t even need any special materials? I have seen the special sun printing paper you can buy at the craft store, but I had no idea there was a way to do sun prints without all the costly components. I discovered this over at Bloom, Bake & Create, where Lyndah shared the easy process for making these very cool sun prints. This is a great activity for kids or adults alike, so what are you gonna do today? Sun printing! [how to make sun printed fabric]
The basics of sun printing are this: you wet down fabric, paint the fabric with acrylic paint, and put down leaves (or any other fun shapes) on top of the fabric. Then you put it out in the sun until it dries. Why it works: the leaves mask out the sun’s heat, which sets the paint. For more detailed instructions about sun printing, please see Lyndah’s site (link at the end of the first paragraph), or check out this PDF: Sun Printing Workshop.
If you buy dollar store flour sack towels, the fabric is an easy and convenient size to work with.
Project Estimate:
- Flour sack towel, $1
- Acrylic paints, on hand
- Spray bottle, on hand
- Leaves, metal washers, paper cut-outs, other flat shapes, on hand
Total: $1
10 Comments
Heather's Mom
What a beautiful project! I was curious if the acrylics made the fabric stiff, but it seems from the tutorial that the paint sets once you apply heat. What a great way to tie a bunch of colors together in a room. You could make pillows very easily. So easy and so practical. Love it.
Lynda
Heather’s Mom, For this project I used Seta Colors which did not make it stiff and are made to be used with fabric. I have used acrylic paints which does make it a bit stiff. You could add fabric medium to the acrylics to make it less stiff. But even the ones I did with acrylics weren’t that hard to work with.
Michelle L.
I am so excited to go to the tutorial! Didn’t know this was a thing – love it!!!
Sheila
What is a flour sack towel?
heather
@Sheila, a flour sack towel is a thin white dish towel.
Diane
So once this has been set by the heat of the sun can you wash it, or does the colors all run and wash out?
heather
@Diane, yes, you can wash it and it is set. Make sure to read all the directions in the original blog post before you begin.
Diane
Thanks Heather,
I may just have to try this, it looks very interesting!
Donna
FYI…Fabric paint works better that acrylic. It absorbs into the fabric rather than staying on top, fabric paint will not wash off and the color will be brighter. Fabric dye will give you the best results or there are thinner silk paints that will work the same. Click to the original tutorial for more information. It is a great project!!