Skip to main content

Success

For my Jane Eyre slow stitch project I needed to figure out a way to transfer an image onto cloth without using chalk, pencils or any sort marking. My solution was to laser print the image onto gift tissue paper and sew through it. To see if it would work, I made a trial run of the idea using scrap muslin and some silk thread.

It worked. The paper was thin enough to stitch through easily, and following the lines of the image worked well, too. I used a variety of stitches to get a feel for what would happen to them when I tore away the tissue at the end. To my surprise the bigger stitches stayed in place, while the smaller did get yanked up a bit (I was able to tug them back into place by carefully prodding the thread from the back.)

This will save me a lot of time that I'd usually spend tracing, and give me a crisper, more accurate image transfer.

Comments

nightsmusic said…
You know, that's an old, old technique and for the life of me, I can't remember what it's called, nor can I get close enough to it to do an internet search for what it's called. I've been trying since you posted that yesterday. Pretty awesome though!
the author said…
I know, I remembered reading about it a long time ago but I couldn't find anything, either. Saving time by using the printer and not tracing was cool, though. There was no transfer of the laser ink to me fingers while I was stitching, too.

Popular posts from this blog

Holiday Prep

For Thanksgiving this year we've invited some guests from Oliver's mom's side of the family, so I have to start prepping now to get the house in shape for the big day. The first major thing is having the carpets cleaned, which we've scheduled for next week. This weekend I'll be cleaning out four rooms to get them ready for that. I started with my front dining room, which I use as my sewing room. It was kind of a mess already, so it felt good to get everything cleared out. We'll be having ten people at dinner plus two babies, so this will give me a chance to figure out how to arrange two tables in this space. I think this will be my last time hosting a big Thanksgiving gathering. Mike has started his family with a lovely girl who has a huge, close-knit family of her own, while Katherine will likely be off at grad school out of state for the next several years. I'm also not getting any younger. My guy and I will always celebrate Thanksgiving, but ...

T-minus Day

This was our little Thanksgiving dinner last year, when it was just the three of us. Time keeps whittling down my favorite holiday; this year it will be just me and my guy, and we likely won't even have a turkey.* That will be a first in 35 years. I feel about Thanksgiving the way other people do about Christmas, and while it's a lot of work it's my favorite holiday. Of all the Thanksgivings I've had in the past sixty years, only three were truly terrible: one when I was a kid that I don't talk about (#1 most miserable); the time I roasted two turkeys together and hosted fifteen people whom I cooked for and served with zero help (the largest and #2 most miserable); and the one I spent in basic training (the #3 most miserable.) I have no pictures of any of those, thank heavens. In addition to doing all the cooking I'm the one who takes all the pictures, washes all the dishes and puts away all the leftovers. I suppose no one else cares because to them it...

Fell Off the Wagon

I did cut up that plastic dollar tote to make into something stronger, but got caught up with work and set it aside. Then last night some hand-dyed silk and pretty threads called my name, and, well . . . Felt SO good to do some handwork, except my neck began hurting about an hour into it. I tried changing the way I sit and work, but it's pretty obvious that the doc is right.