Stitchery Tutorial Part 1 - Transferring Stitchery Designs

As part of the Poppy Patch Posse, not only am I reviewing some products available on the Poppy Patch website, but I'm also writing a few tutorials about some of the techniques that I'm going to use to create some gorgeous projects. The first product I'm going to review involves hand embroidery, so before I begin stitching, I thought I'd write a few words about the methods I use for transferring stitchery designs onto fabric. There is a lot of information available from various resources about tracing stitchery designs, so I'm not trying to preach to anyone, I'm just offering advice about my favourite "tools of the trade" and why they deserve a place in my list of favourites!

​Preparation of fabric is very important, so I've given my fabric a spray with Best Press, then using a warm iron, I've pressed the fabric on a wool pressing mat to remove any creases. I'm using a lightweight fusible interfacing, Vlieseline H180 on the wrong side of the background fabric. This gives a bit of "body" to finer fabrics and prevents shadowing of threads from the back. When using a fusible interfacing, make sure the fusible side is against the wrong side of the background fabric and take care to read the manufacturers instructions regarding the heat setting you need for your iron and avoid getting the fusible part of the interfacing on your iron - I always press from the right side of my background fabric, to activate the fusible backing, ensuring there are no threads caught between the fabric and interfacing...

...some sort of lightbox is an absolute must if, like me, you do lots of hand embroidery and I absolutely LOVE my A3 sized lightpad (a very thin lightbox) which makes tracing larger designs so much easier than taping your paper designs to the window to trace!...

...this lightpad has a large, flat surface and is very easy to use. You just plug it in, switch it on and it's ready. It also has various levels of brightness, which is really useful...

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​...once the fabric is pressed, it's centred over the stitchery design, with a couple of inches spare all around the outside edge. I've used some pins to secure it to the paper pattern, followed by a strip of masking tape to hold the layers in place on the surface of the lightpad. Then I can alter the level of brightness to  enable me to be able to see the design through the fabric...

...there are numerous pens available for transferring designs onto fabric, and believe me I have tried most of them! Personally I don't like Frixion pens - although the lines disappear when heat is applied, "ghostlines" can reappear afterwards. My favourite pen for tracing designs is a Pigma Micron pen in the finest nib size 005 (even 1 strand of thread will cover the traced design). The ink is permanent, so you do need a very steady hand. You don't need to press hard, or the nib will be damaged and drag across the fabric rather than leaving a smooth line. I normally use the brown ink, as this ensures the colour of the embroidery thread stays true, although I do use red ink for redwork. Fine pointed pencils can also work well, especially if the lead is white for using on darker fabrics...

...once I've traced the stitchery design, I've placed the fabric into a wooden embroidery hoop. This keeps the fabric taut and helps to prevent puckering when I'm stitching. I'll share more information in another tutorial tomorrow regarding hoops, needles and threads. 
​#poppypatchposse