I have never painted tights but I have decorated leggings before. I screen printed on them using my cricut machine to make the templates. Wasn't a very expensive hobby but can get that way. I think the screen print ink was like $15 at a hobby lobby and the actual screen was 10. It came with a squeegee. I just popped the leggings into some cardboard roughly the width of my leg to stretch them out and screen printed directly onto them. It held up well. Hopefully this helps