I think that a perfect transfer method is the holy grail of embroidery. Tracing works with light colored fabrics, but what to trace with? There are pencils, chalk, and pens that are specifically made for fabric, but they all have issues. They disappear while you’re still working on a project, they don’t disappear when they’re supposed to, they can be dusty or hard to use….
After searching and searching and searching all around the internet, I read about these two types of pens that might be the solution. They are not pens designed specifically for fabric, but someone out there gave them a try and liked how they work. Lets us give them a try too.
Here are the pens:
The first ones here are called FriXion by Pilot. I found them on Amazon.
The second set are called Flair Ultra Fine pens from Papermate. I also found them on Amazon. They come in different sized sets, but I wanted to try out the colors before committing to one or another.
To test all the pens, I drew lines across a piece of fabric. The Flair pens are on top and the FriXion pens are the three lines at the bottom. I let the fabric sit for a while to make sure the ink was fully dry.
I cut a section off, so I could match up which ones disappear or didn’t… and then I rinsed.
It was a pretty quick rinse, and I didn’t leave them to soak at all. The results are… ok…. the FriXion pens didn’t work at all, and some of the colors of the Flair pens worked better than others.
It’s not as easy to take a photo of the results as you might think. I feel like the picture makes it look like most of them washed away. In reality, I feel like the orange and green Flair pens washed away completely and all the rest left a little or a lot of color.
So, I decided to try again. This time, I left the fabric sit for longer. And then instead of just rinsing, I soaked the fabric for an hour in warm water. Then I came back and rinsed quickly. I let it dry and then ironed it to see if that would set off the leftover color better.
Here are the results:
I was pleasantly surprised! The FriXion pens actually did the best in this trial. Equally as good are the green and orange Flair pens- just like last time. The red Flair pen also did quite well.
So, what’s my verdict? For embroidery tracing, I would use the FriXion pens because both colors I tried came out. It’s a lot fewer pens to buy for simply tracing embroidery patterns.
On the other hand, if I could only purchase the orange and green Flair pens, that would actually be my preference because they are easier to use on fabric.
So there you go. Cut and dried? I don’t know.
What do you use to trace your embroidery patterns? Let me know of other products I should try in the comments!!
This post was published on Muse of the Morning.com
The frixon pens disappear with heat too!
Pretty cool (and smart) that you tested them out before selecting! The one negative comment I heard about the Frixion pen is that while heat removes the mark, cold can bring the mark back and it may come back in a different shade!
I also read that the best size to get in a Frixion pen is the ultra fine point so that your thread will definitely cover the marks as you embroider. (In case the marks do come back!)
I have read other articles that state that a mechanical lead pencil works well and washes off, but it may not be as defined as a pen. ( I have yet to try…)
Then I found an article that describes at least four or fives methods to transfer patterns! So many choices!
Thanks for taking the time to test and provide your results. It gives me more to think about. I have yet to decide.