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Techniques

How to Transfer an Embroidery Pattern to Fabric

The easiest way to transfer an embroidery pattern to fabric is to trace it. Tape the printed pattern to a bright window or a light pad, tape your pressed fabric on top, and draw over the lines with a fine water-soluble or heat-erasable fabric marker. When the fabric is too dark or too thick to see through, switch to dressmaker's transfer paper or a printable water-soluble stabilizer. Whatever method you use, test the marker on a scrap first, keep your lines thin, and line the design up with the weave of the fabric before you make a single mark.

Prepare the fabric and the pattern

A few minutes of preparation saves you from a crooked design you only notice halfway through.

Press the fabric flat before you transfer. A crease that runs through a stem today becomes a kink in that stem for good.
Find the center. Fold the fabric in half both ways, finger-press the folds, and mark the crossing point with a tiny dot. Fold the paper pattern the same way so the two centers can be matched.
Check the grain. Line up any straight element in the design, such as a border or a horizon, with the threads of the weave rather than with the cut edge, which is rarely perfectly square.
Leave room. Keep enough fabric around the design to fit comfortably in your hoop, plus a couple of extra inches on every side for finishing later.
Test your marker. Draw a short line on a corner or scrap, then remove it the way the pen's instructions say. If it does not disappear completely, use a different marker.

If you are working from a kit such as the Botanical Embroidery Kit, read its materials list first. Some kits supply a pre-printed design and some supply a paper chart, and the exact contents of ours are still being confirmed. If the design is already printed on the fabric, skip ahead to hooping.

Method 1: Trace with light (light, thin fabric)

Tape the pattern to a sunny window, a light pad, or a tablet screen set to a plain white page at full brightness. Center the fabric over it using your fold marks and tape all four sides so nothing slides. Trace with light, steady pressure. Short strokes are fine; you are drawing a guide for stitches, not a finished drawing. For French knots and other dotted elements, mark a small dot rather than a circle. Before you untape everything, lift one corner of the fabric and compare it with the pattern to make sure you did not skip a section.

Method 2: Transfer paper (dark or heavy fabric)

On dark or thick cloth, light will not come through. Place dressmaker's transfer paper, colored side down, between the fabric and the pattern, then trace the lines with a ballpoint pen or a stylus. Pick a transfer color that contrasts with the fabric: white or yellow on dark grounds, blue or gray on light ones. Press firmly, but keep the side of your hand off the paper, because palm pressure leaves smudges too.

A darker design like the Night Garden Embroidery Kit is likely to need this kind of method if its fabric turns out to be a dark ground, although its materials are still being confirmed. A white gel pen also shows up well on dark fabric, but its lines are permanent, so only use it for lines your stitches will cover completely.

Method 3: Water-soluble stabilizer (fine detail or textured fabric)

Printable or traceable water-soluble stabilizer is a thin sheet you print or draw the design onto, stick to the fabric, and stitch straight through. Afterward you rinse it away in lukewarm water. It is the most accurate option for small lettering or tight detail, and it works on textured fabrics that do not hold a pen line well. Two cautions: the stabilizer makes the fabric stiffer while you stitch, and you have to soak the finished piece, so check that your threads are colorfast before you rely on it.

Mistakes to avoid and how to check your transfer

Lines that are too heavy. Thick marks are harder to cover with a single strand and harder to remove. Aim for a line about as fine as the thread you plan to use.
Ironing over a marker you have not tested. Heat can set some inks permanently. Heat-erasable pen lines can also reappear when the fabric gets cold, so stitch over them fully.
Transferring with the fabric already in the hoop. Hoop tension stretches the weave, and the design relaxes out of shape once the fabric comes out. Mark flat, then hoop.
Skipping the arm's-length check. Before you hoop, hold the fabric at arm's length beside the pattern and look for skewed lines, missing sections, and a design drifting toward one edge.

When you hoop the marked fabric, keep the hoop's screw at the top and check that the design still sits square. A spare hoop from the Bamboo Embroidery Hoop Set is handy if the design ends up off-center for the hoop you planned. Sizes for that set are still being confirmed, so measure your design before you choose one.