How to Transfer Patterns for Embroidery

Don't be afraid to embroider dark fabrics - transfer your design onto any background with transfer pencils.

There are several ways to get an image onto a piece of fabric for embroidery. For light fabrics, you can often just hold the design up under the fabric and trace it with a washable fabric pen. For darker fabrics, however, this isn't possible, and it leaves some embroidery fans afraid to use colors other than white and cream fabric for their projects. The solution is to use a transfer pencil, which works equally well on light and dark fabrics and creates a design template that is clear to follow and washable after the embroidery is finished.

Things You'll Need

• Embroidery design
• Transfer paper
• Traditional pencil
• Transfer pencil
• Fabric to be embroidered
• Iron

Instructions

1. Take the design you wish to embroider and place it onto a flat workstation or table. Position a piece of transfer paper over top of this design, with the wrong or back side of the transfer paper facing up. Tape the two papers down so they do not shift while you work.

2. Use a regular lead pencil to trace the embroidery design onto the back of the transfer paper. Remove the transfer paper from the design and turn it over.

3. Trace the embroidery design onto the front of the transfer paper using a transfer pencil. Make sure that the color of the pencil you choose will show up on the fabric you will embroider. Use dark colors for light fabrics and light colors for dark fabrics.

4. Place the fabric you will embroider right side up on an ironing board. Put the transfer paper right side down on top of the fabric, so that the image you traced with the transfer pencil touches the fabric itself. Arrange it so the design is positioned correctly on the fabric. Since you traced the design backward, it will be forward when you attach it to the fabric.

5. Use a hot iron without steam to attach the transfer to the fabric. Go over the back of the transfer paper in slow, back-and-forth motions until the image from the transfer pencil adheres to the fabric. Periodically lift a corner of the paper to check to see if the transfer has stuck. When it has fully transferred to the fabric, gently peel off the transfer paper and your design is ready to embroider.

References

• Needlecrafter.com: Transferring Designs to Fabric
• Bella Online: Transferring Embroidery Designs to Fabric
• Craft Leftovers: How To: Transferring Embroidery Designs: Free Pattern