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Before trying any of these techniques, please read this!!
Resists keep the base fabric the same colour while the paint or dye colours the areas not treated with a resist.
Rub a candle on your fabric
over a textured object, for example a wire mesh. Then paint over. Iron between
sheets of plain newsprint. Scrunch the fabric to get a 'crackle' effect.
Mud
(yes, mud!) 
Mix some ordinary earth from your garden with water to make a thick cream - remove any stones, leaves, worms, moles, etc!
Put your fabric in a frame (embroidery hoop)
With a brush, use the mud to paint on a design and leave it to dry. When it is quite dry use fabric paint to colour in between the mud, and leave it to dry again.
Place the fabric face-down on plain newsprint, place baking parchment or newsprint over it, and iron to fix the paint.
Wash in warm, soapy water to remove the mud. Depending on where you live, you will have some colour left by the mud. Don't expect it to come white!
wax and mud | stencils | wrapping round a tube | other binding methods
A stencil is something that comes between your paint and your fabric.
You can make stencils from card, plastic, or even natural objects such as leaves. Sticky-backed plastic or even wide masking tape make good stencils as they both stick well to the fabric.
Stick the stencil to the fabric.
Sponge or brush the paint on gradually. Do not have your sponge or brush too wet or the paint will seep under the stencil.
wax and mud | stencils | wrapping round a tube | other binding methods
This colours fabrics and threads at the same time.
Find a tube - a cardboard toilet roll, kitchen-paper roll, plastic drainpipe, etc. If it is cardboard cover it with clingfilm.
Wrap a piece of fabric round
the tube. Tape the end of a thread to one end of the tube and wrap the thread
round and round. Tape the other end. To make a good resist use plastic string
and bind it round the tube leaving gaps which will take the paint. Now paint
the fabric but do not saturate it.
Let it dry and remove the fabric and threads. Fix the paint with an iron if necessary.
wax and mud | stencils | wrapping round a tube | other binding methods
Tie-dyeing is a very old resist method found all over the world and therefore known by different names - 'plangi' is the Malay name, used in Malaysia and Indonesia, 'shibori' is a Japanese word meaning 'tied' or 'knotted', 'adire' is the Nigerian name, and 'bandana' is Indian.
Tritik (a Javanese word) is a stitched resist. The stitchery is completed using strong thread and short stitches, and then the fabric is firmly drawn together in closely packed folds. The tighter the folds the better the result.
Leave the ends long enough to tie round the clumps once the fabric is pulled up.
Paint the fabric and leave until completely dry before untying it.
by Linda Livesey © The Embroiderers' Guild 1995. First published in the Young Textile Group Project Book, Spring 1995.
if you want to share this project with others, please link to it - don't copy it
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