April 13, 2010

Tutorial Tuesday: Make an Iron On Embroidery Transfer

This year, I've been busy transforming photographs into embroidered images. My latest project is this building:

which will soon adorn this bag:

And here is the process:

Materials



  • Reverse image of the picture you want to use
  • Tracing paper (You can use ordinary paper, but tracing paper makes it easier to see the image you're tracing.)
  • Sulky Iron-On Transfer Pen
  • Fabric
  • Iron

Process

  1. Trace your image on tracing paper. It will iron on IN REVERSE. You can use the mirror image setting of your printer to print a reverse image to trace. Once transferred, the image will be correct again.
  2. Lay the tracing paper on the fabric with the ink side touching the fabric. Use a dry iron (no steam) on a cotton setting and iron the back of the tracing paper.
  3. Lift up a corner of the paper to check whether the ink transferred.

  4. Start embroidering.
Note: The pen is supposed to be permanent. So if you don't want it to show on your fabric, you may want to iron it onto some tear-away fabric instead.

You can use this process to create your own embroidery transfers from photographs, drawings, or kid art, and to refresh vintage iron-on transfers where the ink has dried up. Or create your own designs from antique magazines like this embroidery pattern dated 1863 from Godey's Lady's Book, which you can find at the New York Public Library Digital Gallery.

Embroidery ; Night-dress. Digital ID: 828089. New York Public Library


Simone
groundsel.etsy.com

17 comments:

Lori P said...

what an amazing idea. I love this. bookmarking it and your blog, too!

molly shoelace said...

this is terrific! definitely inspired to give it a shot. thank you!

May Luk Ceramics said...

That is excellent tutorial. Thanks for posting. Your project is very interesting as well.

molly shoelace said...

not to mention, the nypl gallery looks like an excellent resource.

Anne said...

This is awesome and I look forward to trying it out soon.

Aliza said...

Love it. The other day, my son just found an image he wanted on a t-shirt. I said I'd have to go online to find out how to do it, and then voila, look what I see just a few days later. Thanks.

Virginia Kraljevic said...

lovely!!

Jingle said...

This is such a great idea! It looks fantastic!

Lorrie Veasey said...

Great tutorial--very inspiring!!

Karina Glaser said...

That's an excellent tutorial! Thank you!

persuede said...

super smart. can't wait to try it out myself. and has so many different potential applications. great tutorial!

Anonymous said...

Cool!

Metalicious said...

Wow, this is so easy. I want to embroider everything!!

Nancy Osborne said...

wow==love it--talented you are!!

Rachel@oneprettything.com said...

I love the house, what a great idea! Thanks so much for sharing this, I'll be linking.

Jen said...

Mahvellous post, thanks! For some reason making my own transfers intimidates me...

Mom said...

You are amazing. Thanks for sharing