How to Transfer Drawing Onto a Felt Fabric Hand Embroidery

Hand embroidery provides an outlet for individuals to stitch a design on many types of fabric; felt fabric is a prime example. Original drawn designs create a unique and individualized felt fabric embroidered item. It is important to remember that all designs will transfer as a mirror image to the embroidery fabric. Transferring a manufactured or an original design requires the use of an oil pencil and wax paper. The best way to transfer an image to felt fabric is to use heat.

Things You'll Need

• Manufactured or drawn image
• Wax paper
• Oil pencil
• Felt fabric
• Ironing board
• Brown wrapping paper
• Scissors
• Iron

Instructions

1. Place the manufactured image or drawn design on a flat stable work surface. Pull enough wax paper from the roll to cover the image, plus a minimum of a 1-inch border. Tear or cut the wax paper from the roll. Center and place the wax paper over the image, making sure the shiny side of the wax paper faces up.

2. Trace the manufactured image or drawn design on the wax paper using an oil pencil. Trace the outline and all detail lines on the inside and outside of the image. Press firmly on the oil pencil to leave a solid line on the wax paper. Remove the traced wax paper image.

3. Center and place the wax paper image on a sheet of brown paper wrapping. Move the wax paper image away from the edge to form a 1-inch frame of brown wrapping paper. Cut the brown wrapping paper so there is a 1-inch border around the wax paper image.

4. Turn on the iron and pre-heat to a cotton setting. Sit the iron in a safe location while pre-heating.

5. Center the desired area for the embroidered design on the ironing board. Place the felt fabric on the ironing board. Center and place the wax paper image on the desired location making sure the oil pencil tracing is on the backside of the wax paper.

6. Center and place the brown wrapping paper over the wax paper image. Make sure to cover the wax paper entirely.

7. Place the pre-heated iron on the top left-hand corner of the brown wrapping paper. Hold the iron in place for 10 seconds. Move the iron one iron's width to the right and hold the iron for 10 seconds. Repeat the process across the top of the wax paper image.

8. Move the iron down one iron's length. Place the iron on the left-hand edge of the wax paper image. Press for 10 seconds. Move the iron one iron's width to the right and press for 10 seconds. Repeat the process until the entire image is pressed.

9. Sit the iron in a safe place. Allow the brown wrapping paper to cool 10 seconds. Hold the bottom right-hand corner of the brown wrapping paper and the wax paper image. Carefully peel the upper left hand corners from the felt fabric. Check to see that the image transferred. Replace the image and the wrapping paper and repress if needed.

10. Allow the brown wrapping paper to cool 10 seconds. Remove the brown wrapping paper and the wax paper image from the felt fabric. Discard the wax paper transfer. Save the brown wrapping paper for future use if desired. The felt fabric is now ready for the embroidery process.

References

• Bright Ring: Fabric Transfer
• Straw: Transfer Print on Fabric with Computer or Color Copier