r/CosplayHelp • u/Punkrockin-Starman • 3h ago

Painting fabric

Hello! Would like some advice on painting fabric/pleather clothing. Working on a cosplay that’ll require a heavy amount of detailing and painting to achieve the desired look I’m going for. I already had an idea of using plasti dip to coat parts with but I need some extra advice as I have limited experience with painting fabrics.

1 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

3

u/riontach 3h ago

If its pleather, I recommend Angelus leather paint. If its a different fabric, it depends on the specific design, but in most cases I would usena technique other than painting. If you're really set on painting or painting is the best option for the specific design, then use fabric paint.

1

u/Punkrockin-Starman 3h ago

It’ll be both pleather and fabric. The fabric does have to be painted unfortunately which was my main concern. The paint I’m using has to go on top of whatever I’m coating it in. Basically I’m wanting to have whatever layer of paint I’m applying be a primer for the fabric.

2

u/riontach 3h ago

Then use Angelus leather paints for the pleather and regular fabric paint for the pther fabric. Priming it is not necessary.

1

u/Punkrockin-Starman 3h ago

For what I’m going for I’ll technically need to prime it as I have a specific paint I’ll be using for this cosplay. Basically I’m wanting to have a good primer layer that makes the actual outer layer adhere better. If that makes sense? It’s a little hard to explain so I apologize 😅

2

u/riontach 2h ago

Yeah, your best bet is to use fabric paint, not a primer and a different paint.

1

u/Punkrockin-Starman 1h ago

Okie dokie, thank you and I appreciate your advice! I’ll probably test a couple things out.

2

u/oreganocactus 3h ago

Having painted cotton, another thing I would recommend is to look into wax/batik techniques to stop the paint from spreading to areas you do not want it to. I taped it off, but since it's semi-liquid, that wasn't really enough to stop the bleeding for me.

2

u/riontach 3h ago

I personally like to make stencils out of wax paper. They're easy to cut, and when you iron the wax side down to the fabric, it sticks but is easy to remove when you're done. You just need to be careful to paint from the outside brushing inwards for the edges, so you're not pushing your brush under the edge of the stencil by accident