How To Paint Watercolor On Embroidery

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There are a lot of different crafts out there, and each of them makes their own beautiful product. But some crafts can be enhanced by combining them with other crafts to create something even more beautiful.

A prime example is watercolor and embroidery. Both of these are soft, delicate arts that, when combined, produce something truly gorgeous. The key is combining them in the right way.

So, how to paint watercolor on embroidery? The best way to paint watercolor on embroidery is to use a small brush, small amount of water, and apply carefully to unbleached cotton muslin. You can paint before or after embroidering, though each method has its own pros and cons.

If you’ve never tried painting watercolor on embroidery, now is a great time to start. The results will enrich your embroidery and give it new life.

Read our tips below to get started. You’ll learn the supplies you need, how to paint watercolor before and after embroidering, and the top tips on how to do it for best results.

Supplies For Painting Watercolor On Embroidery

Before you begin, it’s important to gather the right supplies.

Painting on fabric can be a tricky business, depending on the fabric. To get the best results, we recommend working with unbleached cotton. It should still appear white or off-white, giving you a great base to add color.

This fabric will be soft enough to run your needle through for the embroidery, but tough enough to hold the watercolor paints without running too much (depending on the amount of water you use).

You’ll also want to grab a set of watercolor paints. These don’t have to be fancy – any cheap set of watercolor paints will do. For your brushes, you’ll likely end up using the smaller size brushes, but it’s good to have a variety just in case.

And of course, you’ll need your embroidery hoops, needles, and floss.

If you’re on a budget and want to get multiple supplies in a bundle, try this set from 3 Otters. It includes a watercolor paint set, a set of brushes, and even comes with 2 aprons to protect your clothes while you work.

Pros And Cons Of Adding Watercolor Before And After Embroidery

Before

While you can add watercolor before and after embroidery, doing it before carries a lot of advantages.

When you’re working with the blank canvas of fabric, you can add watercolor paints without fear of the colors bleeding onto your embroidery floss.

You don’t have to worry so much about staying within the lines of your design, because you may not have even drawn it on yet. You have more creative freedom and less stress about doing it meticulously to avoid color bleeding.

However, one disadvantage is that you won’t get the same crispness to your colorful design as you would if you already had the lines laid out.

If you embroider before you paint watercolor on the fabric, then you know exactly which colors go where. You can add green inside the small lines of your leaves with a careful eye, keeping the color only inside those lines.

A simple fix is to sketch or trace your pattern onto your fabric before you add your paint. This should be done in pencil.

Traditional pattern pencils or markers for embroidery are designed to wash away in water, so using one of these pencils means your pattern will disappear the second you start to add paint.

After

As we noted above, painting watercolor after you’ve done the embroidery carries a specific advantage.

You can be sure that each color goes in its exact proper shape and place. A little bleeding is expected due to the nature of watercolor, but for the most part, you will be able to add the color more precisely.

However, this carries certain disadvantages as well. Painting watercolor after embroidery runs the risk of the paint changing the color of the embroidery floss.

This isn’t a big deal for darker color floss, such as black or navy, but with light or other colored floss, you may notice a distortion in the color from the paint.

You can weigh the pros and cons and test out each method to determine which works best for you.

How To Paint Watercolor Before Embroidery

Gather your supplies and fill a small cup with water.
Lay the fabric in your hoop, pulling it taught. It should make a sound like a drum when you tap it.
At this point, you can choose to trace or sketch your pattern onto the cloth with a regular graphite pencil (it not using a pre-printed pattern). This is optional and will depend on what your pattern calls for (example: if you’re embroidering an underwater landscape and just wish to watercolor the entire fabric blue, this step is unnecessary).
Lightly dip your paintbrush into the water, then dip it into your desired color of watercolor paint. Apply your paint to the canvas lightly.
If the color isn’t spreading as much as you want, try spraying the fabric with water lightly to give yourself a wet base to work with. If it’s spreading too much, use less water.
When all the colors have been applied, allow the fabric to dry completely.
Once it’s dry, you can now sketch your pattern or design, if choosing to do it after the watercolor paint. If your design is already on your fabric, you’re now ready to thread your needle with your embroidery floss and start stitching!

For a great visual of this method, check out the video below from Redwork Stitches. You’ll notice how the colors aren’t as precisely in the lines because they did the painting before, but it’s still a beautiful visual effect.

How To Paint Watercolor After Embroidery

Lay the fabric in your hoop, pulling it taught. It should make a sound like a drum when you tap it.
Sketch or trace your embroidery pattern onto your fabric (you can do this prior to laying in the hoop if desired). If using a fabric with a pre-printed pattern, proceed to the next step.
Follow the embroidery pattern and embroider your design with the designated stitches.
After the embroidery is complete, gather your painting supplies (this doesn’t need to be done at the beginning since embroidery can take hours, days, or weeks to complete).
Fill a small cup with water. Dip a small paintbrush into the water, then into the color of paint you need. Apply carefully within the lines of your design, careful not to touch the brush to the floss.
If the color is too pale or bleeding too much, use less water. If the color is too vibrant or doesn’t feel like it’s applying smoothly, use a little more water.
Paint all the desired areas of your embroidery.
Once finished, allow the fabric to dry completely. When the paint dries, your project is complete!

For a great visual of this method, check out the video below from Beth Colletti Art & Design. You can see how the colors are more precisely within the stitches, but may have bled a little onto the lighter yellow thread.

Tips For Adding Watercolor To Embroidery

Whether you paint your watercolor before or after doing the embroidery design, there are some basic tips that can help you achieve the best results. First, it’s important to monitor the way your paint is saturating the fabric based on the amount of water you’re using.

The water you use can change the entire look of your watercolor embroidery. There’s no one perfect amount of water, since it will depend on your desired look.

If you want a soft, pale look that has a bit of bleeding and a loose feel to it, then use a larger amount of water. More water will cause the colors to be diluted and will encourage the paint to travel farther along the fabric. Wetting the fabric beforehand can help this effect.

If you want a more sharp, vibrant look with minimal bleeding and precision, then use a small amount of water. This will help the colors to remain vivid and prevent them from bleeding too far.

Don’t wet the fabric beforehand if you want this look. Start with the smallest brush you have and work your way up.

It’s better to start small and realize that you’re not covering enough surface area, than to start with a brush that’s too big and ends up bleeding paint into other sections and potentially onto the embroidery floss.

Try different fabrics to see which works best for you. Even though we recommend and unbleached cotton, you can use other fabrics, too. Experiment to see what works best for you.

Use dark embroidery floss for a stark, contrasting look. This will create a dynamic image and help your embroidery and your watercolor to stand out on their own.

Use embroidery floss that matches your watercolor pigments to achieve a softer, more painterly look. The floss will blend in with the background while adding just a little bit of texture to create an interesting image.

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