Making fabric patches

Hey artists!

This summer I’m going to be sharing tips and working on weekly projects that you can follow along with using Artistcellar stencils. If you do follow along, I’d love to see it, and maybe even feature it on our pages! You can tag us @artistcellar on Instagram and Facebook or use the hashtag #artistcellar.

This week, I thought I would make some patches! I love using stencils on fabric, and also having a way to use the art I make. Once I’m finished, I might sew one onto my jean jacket, a tote bag, or an apron.

The things you’ll need are: 

• Some fabric scraps. I think thick, woven fabric like denim or canvas works best. I used some bottoms of jeans I cut off!
• Acrylic paint, and (optional) a fabric medium
• Makeup sponges to apply paint (my favorite method)
• Some embroidery thread or beads if you’d like to decorate them!
• Of course, stencils of your choice! Our pocket stencils are a great option for little patches.

Here’s a tip for getting started: get all your supplies out first, and put them in one place. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed when I start a project because I don’t know what to do first. But usually, I take a mental inventory of the things I’m going to need to use (like the list above) and then put them in one spot all on my desk. Sometimes, that’s all I get to in one day, but when I’m ready to start working, I’m all set up and ready to go!

The most fun part is picking out the combinations of designs, paint color, and fabric color. I decided to do a larger OM in gold on blue fabric, Buddha Eyes in gold on this lovely dark purple, heart chakra in green, and the Tudor Rose (from the Virtues mini pocket set) in red on black denim.

The gold Om came out great. I apply paint by mixing a bit of it with fabric medium on a large palette, then dabbing a makeup brush in it around a bit until there’s a thin, even later of paint on the sponge. Then I just dab it on, without squishing it around. This makes sure that no globs of paint slip under the stencil.


The Tudor Rose also came out great. I first did a layer of opaque white paint, and then without removing the stencil, did a layer of red after the white dried. This is why I said that thicker fabric and paint works better - this stencil has some tiny details and they didn’t get lost at all!

The heart chakras came out a little messier - I think I had more fabric medium making my paint more liquid, and the fabric was a lot thinner. I experimented with cleaning them up - I used a paint pen on this light green one, and a faber castell brush pen to draw around the edges of the other.


The buddha’s eyes did not come out too great… I think it was the same reason as the chakras, because this fabric has a lot of stretch, despite me taping it down to my desk.


But don’t worry! I went back in with the brush pen, figuring the dark ink would blend in with the dark fabric. You can still tell it’s a little messy, but I think it looks a lot better.

To finish them up, I cut them to nice sizes, and ironed them to heat set the paint, like the instructions on the fabric medium I used said to do. I put some fray block on the edges of the fabric.

I thought a few of them could be a bit fancier! One of the reasons I like working with fabric is because you can add embroidery or beads for a lot of texture. I did a simple stitch around the edges of these two in some matching embroidery floss. I think a blanket stitch, or some contrasting colors would also look neat. And I added some gold glass beads to this Om.

Can't wait to find something to put them on!

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