I Need Some Hand Embroidery Help
July 29, 2009 by Loretta
Filed under Hand Embroidery
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Okay, I’m a big girl and I can admit that I totally need help! I wanted to do a few hand embroidery projects. I thought these would be great for travel since I won’t need nearly as much space as with my cross stitch. No big pattern to fold out, no highlighting to do, no counting of stitches etc…. It seemed like a great solution!
So, I got some great patterns from Urban Threads and Bad Bird, printed them out, and picked up some transfer paper over at Hancock Fabrics. I thought to myself, “I’m all set!” I’ve got plenty of embroidery floss, I know which colors I want to use, I have plenty of fabric to play with.
So, I grabbed one of the printed patterns, and carefully transferred the design I wanted to do first onto some grey flannel using the white transfer paper.
Well shoot… if I touch it the design disappears. So, how exactly do I handle this? Do I need to over the transferred design with another pen? It’s a bit difficult to write on flannel, so I’d almost have to use a marker. It feels like I’m totally missing a step here. Maybe flannel wasn’t the best choice in fabric? Perhaps I need something less fuzzy and easier to write on?
I’ve been reading online about different ways to transfer designs and it seems like I did it right, but then I guess I didn’t because if I touch the fabric or put the piece away in my stitching bag all the design just disappears into thin air.
Someone guide me in the right direction, please?
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Hi, Having trouble transfering your embroidery pattern?
Well you are right, flannel is tough to transfer onto. I don’t know about every method of transfer but here is what I do know.
1. Iron (or heat) transfer pencil is my favorite. How well it works on flannel I don’t know. You use your iron to to transfer the image. Your iron must be at the very hottest setting. The image doesn’t transfer right away so don’t freak. I have tried to use a real old iron/heat transfered pencil and found that it no longer worked.
2. I have heard that you can transfer your drawing onto freezer paper, then iron it onto the face of your project and stitch on top of the paper. When finished, tear away the paper. I have never used this method.
Lastly, you will probably need some kind of iron on stabilizer to put on the back of the flannel to keep the embroidery from puckering your fabric.
Ok, this is the last, for real. Embroider your image onto a easier fabric to transfer to, then applique the patch onto your flannel.
Let me know how you do,
Andrea, aka Badbird
Andrea´s last blog ..Yellowstone.
Just a reminder…Whatever you do DON’T use a regular ink pen to trace with. They bleed into the farbic and you’ll have a mess plus the fact they don’t wash out! Pigma ink pens don’t bleed but again they won’t wash out. Maybe try the heat transfer pencil that Andrea suggests or there are seamstress pencils available that are water soluable (don’t use an air soluable one!)but are made to be used for fabric. Stabilize your fabrics before tracing the designs too! Good luck!
Lynn
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Twitter: retta719
says:
Thanks for all the tips Andrea and Lynn! I think I’m going to try an easier to use ’smoother’ fabric tonight and see how that goes. I looked at those transfer and marker pens when I grabbed the transfer paper and considering grabbing one as a back up plan… now I really wish I had done that!
I’ll post some progress pics once I get a little further along.
Twitter: retta719
says:
I just tried with a fat quarter of fabric that I had and while the design transferred I still couldn’t really see it. I think maybe the iron on method is going to be my best bet. I can’t seem to wrap my head around anything else.
Like Loretta, I have had trouble with transfering the designs. Is the iron on method the alternative or are there other things I could try. Your help would really be appreciated.
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There are also markers you could use to mark your pattern. Some are water soluble and some are air soluble. I generally use an air soluble marker or a heat transfer pencil as I have never really been satisfied with the transfer paper method. I’ve heard some people really like using the freezer paper method, but I can’t vouch for it personally. Something to consider also is permanency. Heat transfer pencil is a permanent mark. If your stitches are bulky and cover everything this isn’t a worry for you, but if you’re working on something more delicate you may want to use something else.
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you can get various various embroidery design over. i have some unque collections please mail me. so that i can send you some.
I also would suggest iron method to transfer your pattern, but it is a bit complex, at least for me in the begining.
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