Impressionistic Confetti Fabric Painting

I had so much fun making this fabric painting.  The process reminded me of mixing paints except you are using fabric.   The process is really simple but very time consuming.   You basically find a picture that you like or one that you have painted, find fabrics that match the colors in the photo, cut them into tiny "confetti" pieces and then "paint" your picture using your fabric.  You then lay a piece of tulle over your fabric and free motion in place.

Finished Fabric Painting

First, I sketched my picture's basic outlines onto  muslin and used textile paint to fill in the large spaces.   This helps guide you for color placement and also helps blend the background with your confetti in case your confetti has a gap.   I ironed light weight wonder under onto the painted muslin to serve as the confetti "glue".  The hardest part is getting the confetti to stay where you want it before it is ironed in place.  I worked in small sections so that the confetti was easier to control.  It is important to use a teflon sheet when you press your confetti on to your background.  Before I stitched the free motion stitched the tulle, I place batting behind the mulin to add body. 

I have also read that some people use one-sided fusible batting for their background.  I might try that next time, but I'm not sure how the painting will affect the fusibility.   I'll do some experimenting.   I also recommend doing a small project to start.   Mine is 18" by 24" which was rather daunting as a first project.   Some people also cut out the larger fabric pieces and fuse them on and only use the confetti for leaves etc.   I chose to make mine look impressionistic so I didn't want any large pieces in my fabric painting. I haven't decided how I want to mount this yet.   Definitely something I want to do again.

Resource photo