How to Transfer a Pattern with Frixion pen

Learn how to transfer a pattern with Frixion pen plus find this cute free stitchery pattern from Wild Olive, “Stitching Love”.

There seems to be a lot of running kids to activities and waiting around lately. Those times of waiting are some of my favourite times for chatting with friends and getting a little crafting done. I usually grab a crochet or stitching project to take with me as they are relatively easy to carry and I don’t need to juggle a pattern to do them while I am chatting to the other Mums.

With that in mind, I started a new stitching project last week. This adorable “Stitching Love” design is by Mollie from Wild Olive, one of my favourite bloggers to check out each week. She created this design to celebrate International Embroidery Day and offered it for free on her blog – find it here.

I’ve chosen to stitch on some simple white linen that I found in my stash. It is very light weight and a crisp white which will show off the bright colours beautifully.

One thing I have struggled with in the past has been transferring my stitching designs to the fabric. I have tried using a blue Ultra-Fine pen and while it is easy to use and I recommend it, but I discovered that when you put the project away for months as I did, the pen fades away. Oops!

This time, I decided to try the black Frixion pen that was part of a recent SewSampler box from Fat Quarter Shop. A little reading has suggested that the Frixion pens may leave a slight shadow on some fabrics but as I intend to stitch over all my lines, I’m not expecting this to be a serious issue.

Certainly, I found it was quite easy to trace my pattern just by laying my fabric over the printed pattern in a bright sunny room. Alternatively, you could tape your pattern and fabric to a window so that the light shines through from behind – a DIY lightbox, if you will! Simply trace the lines using light shorts pen strokes so that the fabric doesn’t drag and shift.

When you finish stitching, you simply use a steam iron to remove the pen marks. Now there have been a number of articles written about how these pen marks will reappear if your work gets super cold. The steam doesn’t remove the ink, it just makes it fade. It is still there unless you use some kind of other ink removal product to completely remove it. This is not of great concern to me as I live in beautiful sunny Queensland where it doesn’t get that cold, but I wanted to mention it in case you live somewhere a little more chilly! Check out this article from Quilt Skipper for more info.

Next time I’d like to try a lighter colour but so far my Frixion pen marking has been so easy I’d definitely use it again.

Now if I could just get back to the stitching again!