Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced stitcher, you will, at some point, muse over just how to get that “perfect pattern” transferred onto the “perfect fabric” to embroider it. Transferring embroidery patterns is probably my least favorite part of the embroidery process, but a water-soluble stabilizer like Solvy can make the process a lot easier.
I’m not quite convinced that Solvy is the absolute answer for embroidery transfer, but it definitely has its uses. To experiment a bit, I decided to try it with cotton velveteen and see how the process worked.
You can find the first steps in the process of using Solvy here.
After I finished stitching the piece, I took it out of the hoop and cut away the excess Solvy. This happens to be “Ultra-Solvy,” which is extra-thick – in retrospect, I should have used regular Solvy. Here’s the trim job:
After trimming it, I plunged the whole thing into a bowl of lukewarm water and let it sit for just a few minutes:
As it soaked, I got a little nervous, since the black from the Sharpie permanent marker seemed to be clinging to the threads. The next time I do this, I won’t use such a heavy line! That’s what I get for rushing! The thread was darkened a bit by the ink, I think. It’s not super-noticeable to anyone but me, but still….
Once the work soaked for a while, I decided to use a mild soap, very lightly working it around the surface, even of the stitches. Normally, I wouldn’t do this, and I don’t recommend it, as the movement tends to separate the fibers of the thread. By the way, I stitched this using one strand of soie d’alger silk by Au Ver a Soie. After very lightly working the soap over the darkened areas (they were pretty noticeable before I did this), I rinsed the whole work in running water:
And, lastly, I laid out the piece on a towel to dry:
You can see the “fuzziness” of the stitches – normally, it should NOT be this way, but this was due to lightly “scrubbing” over them with mild soap, using my fingers. Usually, I get a very smooth result with the soie d’alger, which I find perfect for satin stitching (see here for an example).
Overall, I was pleased with the experiment, and I learned a lot about using a water soluble stabilizer for transferring an embroidery pattern. Some definite do nots:
- Don’t use ultra solvy – use regular.
- Don’t use a heavy line permanent marker, like a regular Sharpie. Use a fine-lined pen, like the macro pens found in the art section of a hobby store.
- Don’t scrub over your stitches, even gently, with your fingers and soap – in fact, this is more or less a hard & fast rule when cleaning anything you’ve embroidered. Only in the most extreme cases of necessity (say, you spilled something directly on the threads and it’s a toss-up between light scrubbing and scrapping the whole work) should you “scrub” the threads.
Will I use Solvy again?? YOU BET!
If you have any tips on how you use Solvy or on how you transfer your designs for embroidery, let the rest of us know!! Thanks!
I’m in the process of conducting my own experiments with using Solvy, so I’ve been very grateful to see the results of yours. Maybe what I’m doing will be helpful to somebody, even though I’m not entirely done.
My focus has been narrow: finding an easy way to transfer patterns onto dark-colored T-shirts and stabilize the fabric at the same time.
So far I’ve found that using just a white colored pencil, from a drawing set (mine is Prismacolor), works fine. For whatever reason, my hand is surer when I trace with a pencil instead of a felt-tip pen.
After tracing the pattern onto a single layer of Solvy, I fuse on a second layer of Solvy. This is accomplished by laying the second layer on top of the first sheet of Solvy, putting a protective sheet of ordinary paper over that, and pressing with an iron for two-three seconds. You might have to peel the paper off the Solvy.
The two layers of Solvy are enough to stabilize the T-shirt fabric and do not stymy your needle, and the pencil shows up perfectly on dark fabric. I also found the fused layers easier to work with than the single layer.
I haven’t had any problems with removing Solvy or with pencil marks transferring onto the fabric or the threads –which in my case have only been DMC cotton floss. THe Solvy with the pencil marks has dissolved on contact with water. The Solvy instructions also suggest removing by ironing between two damp paper towels, and that has worked well for me too.
There’s another type of Solvy I’m going to try, coming in the mail. I hope it isn’t the Ultra! I’ll let you know how that turns out.
Once again, Mary, thank you for your wonderful work. Your writing is so clear and encouraging.
thanks so much, this really helps : )
Not sure if this will work with the threads or material but it might be worth a test on yours before starting a project. For most ink spots I use a plain cheap hairspray to make it just go away.I spray until the material is soaked. If it is goning to work you can see the ink disappear right before your eyes. Then rinse the material to remove the spray. No scrubbing or soap needed. Good Luck.
Quick question. Would you prefer Solvy or Transfer-Eze? I am currently testing the Transfer-Eze and am finding it a bit difficult getting the needle through it. What size needle did you use when you tried it?
Thank you
Hi, Sharron – I think Solvy is easier to come by, but either worked fine – pretty much the same, actually. I used a #7 crewel needle, I think. I was stitching with several strands of regular floss. My guess is that larger needles would be more difficult to use, but I’m not sure, as I haven’t used anything larger than a 7. ~MC
Mary,
I have used Solvy quite a bit, but mainly for machine stitching. One tip i would give would be to use a small pair of embroidery scissors and clip it away quite close to the stitching. I would do it all over in between each of the lines of stitching. That just makes it easier and quicker to disolve what is left.