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...
Now look at the photo below. You can see how neat the lazy daisy stitches appear when there is no visible tracing mark...
I hope this little bit of Elefantz information has answered some questions for you.
A little bit of stitching got done on another secret project...
...and the rest of the corn fritters and marinated beans were on the menu with salmon for dinner.
It was a nice yesterday.
Hope you have a nice today,
hugs
