Colored Pencils and Fabric Tote Bag Tutorial

Playing Around

So... I really like making things. But I like making things that I can finish and be done with. Things that I can use. And it got into my head that I wanted a tote bag to stick our school things in (I like learning outside).

I really love one of the coloring pages for my next journal, and I thought, Well, I'll color it and then put it on a bag. But then I thought, Wait! It would be more fun just to color the bag!

So I've been testing out materials and thought I'd share the results with you!

Colored Pencils on Fabric Tote Bag Tutorial

My Faith & Butterflies Tote Bag! It is printed on both sides.

Supplies

Tote Bag (I used the one here, but any tote bag will do. This one is polyester, and printed on both sides). Mine comes in three sizes; this is the small.
Colored Pencils (mine are plain old Derwent)
Textile Medium (some are heat set, some aren't. Pick one you like)
Cardboard or a Clipboard (to fit inside the bag)
Paintbrush

Color

Slide your Clipboard inside your bag. And then color! For once in your life, it's okay to let the pencils get blunt: it helps to keep the coloring smooth!

Build up layers of color. I like to start with the lightest shade and work my way up to the darker shades. I enjoyed the texture of coloring on the canvas, and it did not eat up my pencils like I thought it would!

Shade away, until you are satisfied.

Before I got too far, I tested my sealer on the purple flower, to be sure that my pigments wouldn't spread. They didn't, so I colored the whole bag before I worried about sealing my art.

If you look close, you can see the color change. The petals on the left were the ones I test sealed...

Set the Color

Grab your bottle of transparent medium and your paintbrush. You can just squirt a small glob right onto the bag and spread. You only need to cover your color-work. It was too easy.

After testing the bag, I decided it needed a 2nd coat! (I soaked the bag to see what would happen, and there was a faint smudge of color when I rubbed with a paper towel. Next time I will just put it on very thick to start with!)

It was easiest to just squirt some right onto the bag and spread it around.

The Results

The second coat of textile medium was a good idea, and I put it on pretty thick. I do not want colored pencil smudging on my clothes if I get caught out in the rain! This time it passed my test!

I really love how this turned out! The back of my bag is still black & white (for now!), which is fun.