working with sublime stitching fine tip transfer pens

When you do a lot of embroidery, I think it's important to have a variety of pattern transfer methods available to you. Even if you have one that works for you most (or all!) of the time, you should know what other options there are and how they work.

You never know when a project may come along where your favorite technique just isn't working, or it may be that in exploring new-to-you techniques you find one that you love even more. To that end, today I'm showing you a tool/method that is still fairly new for me.

Transfer pens have been around for a while, but I've shied away from them. Especially after my transfer pencil experience. You see, transfer pens are mostly permanent. If you mess up the process or don't stitch over the pattern completely, you'll see the markings. And it used to be that you could only get transfer pens with tips that were similar to working with a Crayola marker.



But then last year Sublime Stitching came out with transfer pens with fine tips. And in a bunch of colors too!

These really do have a fine tip. It's more like working with a Micron pen, and I'll tell ya...I feel 100% better about this than the thicker kind. (Full disclosure: Jenny sent me this pen to try.)



To use these, you draw or trace your pattern on a separate piece of paper. I used heavy tracing paper, but regular paper works too. Whatever you put on the paper is going to transfer, so if you mess up a line, you probably want to start over (or plan on stitching it that way). That's a little intimidating for tracing large patterns, but we'll come back to that.

Also, whatever you trace will flip when you transfer it, so you need to have your pattern reversed first. Okay, so you don't NEED to reverse every pattern, but if it has words, it's a must. Good news for you? Wild Olive patterns come with patterns pre-flipped for you!



After the pattern is traced, it's time to transfer. (By the way, Jenny Hart has a great tutorial on her blog for this whole process.)

Iron your fabric, then place the pattern face down on the fabric. Press the pattern for a couple seconds. This is different from ironing, because you really don't want to be moving the iron around like crazy. It will shift the pattern and mess up the transfer.



And here are my results. At the top of the pattern, the lines are darker, and even a little thicker. I think I must have pressed a little harder at that end. And there's a missing spot which must be where one of the holes in the iron plate landed.

Things like inconsistent transfer due to my own lack of finesse with transfer patterns is one of the reasons I don't use them often. Which of course perpetuates my issues! But really, these are easy to use, and I'm generally happy with the way the transfer came out.



The real test comes in stitching. Even with the fine tip, I felt like I needed to use six strands of floss to cover my darker, thicker lines. Not that it's a bad thing, because six-strand embroidery looks pretty awesome! But if I needed to use fewer strands, I'd definitely want to press with a lighter touch, or maybe even trace with a lighter touch.

UPDATE: After using this more often, I've been able to transfer with finer lines that I can cover with just three strands of floss. I've even purchased a black one so I can color options!

So...getting back to larger designs. If I were doing a giant pattern, or something with lots of detail, trying to trace the entire thing by hand and not messing it up at all would make me so nervous. In that situation, I'd want something like a water-soluble pen so the markings vanish. Or even better, water-soluble stabilizer which can be printed on, avoiding the tracing entirely.

But all that said, this is a REALLY great way to use one pattern on a page of motifs without wasting a page of Sulky stabilizer. And tracing a pattern out of a book would be another perfect use for a pen like this.

Yep...I'll be pulling this out more often. How about you? Have you used these? Do you have any thoughts or tips to share?

PS: The pattern you see here is part of a new set coming very soon to the Wild Olive shop!

my 3 favorite needles // a non-technical guide

I love to embroider and stitch all kinds of things, and I love sharing my passions and process with others. I've taught online classes and have heard from many people that it was my tutorials that got them started. And still, every once in a while, I think, "I hope they don't find out that I don't know what I'm doing."

Lest you lose all confidence in me, I will say that I've probably earned at least some right to pass on my knowledge, through reading books on stitching (old and new), studying the embroidery work of others, and learning first hand from my grandma. I just don't take it too seriously. My non-technical needle guide will prove that.



There are a shocking number of needle types. Honestly. And my first thought is to just grab whatever is closest. Then I get started and realize that oh yeah, some needles are more suited than others for certain kinds of stitching. I've even shared a little about this before. But today, I thought I'd go into a little more detail. Sort of. This is my list of three-ish favorite needles for embroidery, English paper piecing, hand sewing, and hand quilting.



This one is small.

A long, skinny, sharp needle with a small eye is my choice for joining hexagons for EPP. I find that it is good for grabbing only the fabric and not the paper, which makes a big difference in the speed of your work.



This one is big.

A needle with some heft and a large eye is my choice for any time I need to use perle cotton. It's great for hand quilting because it holds up when going through a lot of layers. Going bigger still makes it possible to use yarn.



This one is just right.

A needle that is medium in thickness, but has a large eye, is my choice for most everything else. Embroidery, basting EPP shapes, hand sewing, and more, are what I use this for. Sometimes I use a sharp needle for felt or if I need to go through paper or interfacing, sometimes I use a ball point needle for when I don't want to poke my fingers too much. Sometimes I'm just not particular.

There are technical names and sizes for all of these (sewing, chenille, embroidery, tapestry), but when I need a needle, if it looks approximately right, I go with it.

No fancy rules here...just stitching for enjoyment!

supplies: hot iron transfer pencils

I've been stitching regularly for over 8 years now, with more time on and off before that. You'd think that in that time I would have tried all of the basic tools and supplies available for embroidery by now, but I often stick with something I like. Then, every so often I think...maybe I'm missing out? Maybe there's a far more efficient way to do this! Maybe I've been going about things all wrong!

For example, it was only a few years ago that I started using a water-soluble pen to trace my patterns. Up until then, a regular pencil was my weapon of choice for most uses. I still use a regular pencil sometimes, and will soon share a post on my recent trials.

I suppose the point here is that it's always a good idea to keep trying new things, even if they are old. Which brings me to Aunt Martha's Hot Iron Transfer Pencils. There are plenty of reviews of these online, and they are mixed, but I decided it was time that I try them out for myself.



For those not familiar with these (or other transfer pencils), the idea is that you can basically make your own iron-transfer pattern or refresh a vintage pattern that's no longer working. You trace the design, place it face down on the fabric, then press the paper with an iron. Here's the instructions from the package:




I followed the instructions, using a freshly sharpened tip. In fact, I had to frequently sharpen as I worked, because the "lead" is fairly soft. You see, I wanted a line I could see (clear) without having a line that would show around my embroidery (overly bold). This proved to be a challenge.

Let's pause here.

At least online, I like to remain positive. How I see certain things in "real life" is another topic, but I still think of myself as more positive than negative. Telling you that a product is inferior is not my favorite thing. Let's take a look.



Here are two little patterns ironed onto linen as a test (this was the clearest photo I could get). The one on the left is a heart and the one on the right is a...Actually, I'll give a free pattern to the first person to identify what that is on the right. Obviously the lines transferred, but they are very difficult to work from.

When I used these pencils to transfer my OINK piggy pattern onto muslin, the lines were much easier to see. So easy that you can see the lines around my stitching and they don't wash out. They don't show in the photo (thankfully), but in person they are easy to spot. So sad!

So, it's back to the pencil and water-soluble pen for me! For now, anyway. There are so many ways that I've read about that different people use...I'll keep trying them to compare. Do you have a favorite way to easily trace or transfer a pattern? Share your thoughts and methods and we can form a discussion in the comments!

UPDATE: ♥Lizzy correctly guessed that it's a chipmunk! Well done, Lizzy! (email me for your prize!)