I bought a huge amount (20 yards, at 44.5 inches wide) of a soft
lavender cotton fabric.  I'm not exactly sure what it is, but it's
like a very soft teeshirt fabric.  Here's my dilemna.  It's boring. It
lacks any degree of visual interest and I'm going to be using it to
drape the inside of a tent.  The draping is supposed to make the tent
a less sterile place to be so I need to dress up the fabric.  My
budget is limited as is time.

How can I paint such a massive amount of fabric? My initial thought is
to create a few stencils, get some fun spray paint, then just spray
the stencils.  My fear is that the fabric will get wet if it rains and
discolor the tent with the paint.

I've looked into fabric paint, but it seems that any kind of design
will take an awful lot of those tiny 1-2 oz containers to pull off.  
If it helps, I'm thinking of creating a sort of multi-colored dot
pattern, with larger and smaller dots of varying colors. The dots will
be roughly like the layout of a twister mat, but with much more space
between them and the dots will be 2 to 6 inches in size.  The dots
will be outlines, not filled in, to limit the time commitment.

What are my options? Will spray paint damage the tent if it gets wet? 
Is there another fast and easy way to do this? Or should I just stick
with the tiny bottles of fabric paint and resign myself to hours and
hours of creating circles on fabric?

Thanks in advance for your help!

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Clarification of Question by angeleenalee-ga on 30 Jun 2004 07:05 PDT

Tie dying isn't really an option for me.  I just hate the way that
stuff looks and it won't quite suit the mood.  Also, I really want a
design I can control.

The fabric is *supposed* to natural cotton.  What I really want to
know is what kind of impact a non fabric paint will have if the fabric
gets wet.

Thanks!

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Request for Question Clarification by kriswrite-ga on 30 Jun 2004 07:47 PDT

I can provide a list of paints you can purchase in larger bottles (8
to 11 oz.) that are suitable for painting fabric. Would this be an
appropriate answer?

Regards,
Kriswrite

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Clarification of Question by angeleenalee-ga on 02 Jul 2004 11:33 PDT

Knowing where I could find larger bottles of fabric paint would be great. thanks.

Hello angeleenalee~

As already stated, ordinary paint (not designed for fabric) might be a
good solution, as long as the fabric won't receive much use. But
within a short amount of time, and exposure to moisture, it will peel
away.

Instead, you might consider a product like Chevron spray paint, which
is designed to cover fabric. An 11 oz can is about $10. You can
purchase this paint at some craft stores, or online; for example, at
Tower Hobbies: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXA722&P=FR

If you prefer paint that can be brushed on, try the 8oz cans, at about
the same price. You can see them here, at Tower Hobbies:
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXA696&P=FR

Good luck!
Kriswrite


RESEARCH STRATEGY:
Froogle Search, Fabric paint pint

Fabulous!  A spray paint would work beautifully.  Thank you.

Have you considered tie-dye? You can get some beautiful abstract
patterns in a short period of time. The large amount of fabric would
probably make it necessary to do this in sections, using a big
washtub. After rinsing, the fabric could be dried on a clothesline.

If its a t-shirt fabric, its probably got a lot of polyester or some
other man-made fiber that doesn't take dye well. This is an important
consideration, so you might want to let us know what the fiber content
is.

Kriswrite

It's likely that a non-fabric paint will eventually ship and peel
away, whether it gets wet, or not. If you're using this for a one-time
engagement, it probably won't be an issue. However, if you want to use
it over and over again, you really do need to use paint designed to be
used on fabric.

Kriswrite