Robbie the Robin

So, now that Robbie is all stitched up using the Hot Iron Transfer Pencil that I wrote about yesterday, I thought I'd show you how it looks.

I mentioned that one of the drawbacks of the pencil transfer method is how thick the lines are. You can clearly see the red outline when using two strands of DMC. 

You could probably cover it ok if you used 3 strands, or crewel but as I'm developing a pattern, I needed to stick to two strands. Using Frixion pens (my usual method) wouldn't have left any visible marks at all as a touch of the iron performs magic. 

Every time I look at those marks, they'll truly drive me crazy but I'll use it somewhere and to be honest, the marks look a lot worse in the photos. 

So, the heat transfer pencil works like a dream but I think I'll reserve it for redwork, crewel and the like!

Transferring images onto fabric

Transferring the images that you want to stitch onto fabric can often give you problems. 

There are many different ways of doing it - each way seems to have its plus and minus points.  I thought I'd share a few here with you over the coming weeks. 

The first method -  using the Hot Iron Transfer Pencil. 

The one I bought was from Hemline and was £2.89 from my local sewing shop but you can buy it on Amazon here. 

First thing to do is find the image you want to transfer onto fabric. I chose a robin design taken from a photograph of a gorgeous little chap who comes into our house (and kitchen!) every day. 

You then need to get some tracing paper and trace over the original image. I used regular tracing paper that I had already but you can buy heat transfer tracing paper - not sure what the difference is. You need to remember at this point that the image you transfer will be mirror image so remember to flip any writing you might be adding. 

Robin is now traced and ready to transfer. Try not to make your lines too thick (like I have here in a couple of places) as your thread might not cover thick transfer lines. 

Now take your tracing paper and place it image side down onto your fabric and iron. Make sure your steam is switched off. Hold the iron on the image for a few seconds and...

.. hey presto - there is your image ready to stitch!

Pros - really quick and simple. You can transfer any image onto fabric really easily with this method and it's cheap.

Cons - I find the line that you get can be quite thick. It's permanent so you have to be really accurate with your tracing.

I'll show you Robbie when he's all stitched up!

I've also in the past carved a lino print from this image and printed him onto fabric - I just can't get enough of him :) 

This is him printed onto fabric -