Name: Roger Trudeau
Message: I wish to write or somehow print an icon on my jeans. What dye, liquid, or other solution do you recommend and what instrument to use would provide the ultimate best result? Thank you.

Depending on how much detail you want and how much trouble you are willing to go to - and on whether or not you are good at drawing - there are a number of possibilities.

The best for people who do not draw are the iron-ons. You can create these on a photocopier or in a computer inkjet printer, after buying the iron-on transfer paper. If your design will be black or otherwise much darker than the material, you can use regular inkjet transfer paper, but if your design requires lighter-color sections, you will need to use opaque transfer paper, which produces results that are more fragile. With either of these products, be sure to turn the garment inside out for laundering. For a source, see Transfer Products at Dharma Trading Company.

You can also create a an iron-on design using fabric crayons, but the fabric in that case must be at least 50% synthetic.

You can draw directly on your jeans with fabric markers. These last quite well through the laundry, as long as you do not use bleach. Turning the garment inside out for laundering is again a good idea, as it reduces wear that will degrade the image.

You can paint directly on your jeans with fabric paint. Use opaque fabric paint unless you are just using black, since lighter colors will be lost against a dark blue background. Metallics and pearls also show up well. Again, Dharma Trading company is a good source for fabric paints, but you may also be able to find good fabric paints at your local crafts store. In fabric paint, higher cost means longer lasting paint and a softer feel on the fabric.

You can use good fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye, to paint on your jeans, if you thicken it with a bit of alginate or Superclear, but, since dye is transparent, only very dark colors will show up against blue denim. Dye is superior when nice feeling fabric is desired, but it probably won't meet your needs as well as one of the above possibilities.

For larger quantities, you can use screen printing, or a Print Gocco kit. If your design is simple, you might want to try rubber stamping; you can paint good fabric paint onto the stamp before each impression on the cloth. Rubber stamps for fabric cannot contain the high degree of detail often seen in rubber stamps used for paper. See Katy Widger's book Print Your Own Fabric.