Tracing on fabric...

Avan Temmuz 19, 2022

One of the most regularly asked questions left for me in comments or sent via email is "What pen do you use to trace your designs onto fabric?"

Since I first began embroidery in 2005 I've progressed from a pencil to a green pigma pen, and on to two different variations of brown pigma pen...

2005...

I used a fine graphite pencil. (I used to call them lead pencils, but my husband assures me that we do not use lead anymore, so graphite they are) This choice was soon discarded because graphite leaves a very fine residue on your threads as you stitch, and those lovely soft pinks, lemons and greens were dulled with grey dust.

2006...

I read that you could trace with an Artline green pigma pen and as long as you washed the finished stitched block before you ironed it, the traced green pen lines would wash away. I liked that the green ink assured I could see the lines to stitch over, no matter the lighting - but the pen tip did tend to catch on certain fabrics.

Blossom and I used this pen for about a year, but then we had a sorry hitch. She had stitched her original and intricate 'Rapunzel' design over a couple of weeks onto a marbled pink quilting fabric. She washed the stitchery as we normally did, but that green pen refused to budge. She was shattered, and the pretty stitchery ended its short life in the rubbish bin. It was time to look for something else. We tried ceramic pencils with erasers and blue fading pens, but even these refused to budge on certain fabrics.

2007:

I read about the brown Micron 01 pigma pen. The traced lines were so very fine and all my stitches, even using single threads, beautifully covered those lines.

The downside was the ‘catching’ of the pen’s tip in fabrics with a larger weave, such as homespun, quilter’s muslin or calico - all of which I liked to use for my stitchery backgrounds. This proved frustrating so I started tracing and stitching my designs onto good quality solid or tonal quilting fabrics instead - but the pen still wasn’t as smooth as I’d hoped.

2009:

I discover the Zig Millenium pen! It glides across any fabric, no matter the size of the weave. It is fine, brown, and perfect for my needs. My stitches cover it every time as long as I trace exact lines and don’t try to fix a mistake by drawing an extra line or thickening an area. I haven’t moved on, and still use it today to trace every one of my stitchery designs onto fabric because I’m so happy with the consistent results.

Just so you can compare the four tracing mediums, here they are drawn onto calico...

...and onto some RJR solid quilting fabric.

Good fabric really does make a difference, even with a good pen.

Now here is a tracing hint for you...

When you trace a design that has lazy daisy stitches, don’t draw in the whole daisy stitch. It’s hard to cover all the traced lines of a small flower petal or similar shape with a lazy daisy stitch, so leave it blank or just put a little dot where the stitch is meant to go. In my ‘Bloom In Your Own Pot’ design I made dots for the placement of the French Knots, but did not draw the lazy daisy lines. Have a look at the photos below and you'll see the lazy daisy placement dots I've made inside the head of the flower...