Embroidery Design Transfer: Let’s Talk about Carbon Transfers

After 20 years of blogging, I always think I’ve answered just about every question about design transfer, but then someone surprises me and says, “I’ve searched all over your site for an answer to this, and I can’t find it!”

And then I search all over my site looking for an answer, too, because I can’t remember whether I’ve written about it or not.

Such was the case with the topic of transferring embroidery designs with carbon paper (or similar products).

I have touched on this topic before here and there (specifically, a million years ago, I used this method to transfer the design on this project), but I’ve not jumped head-first into it because I don’t often use carbon methods and materials for transferring designs.

Still, I have the tools and materials for this approach for the occasional times I do use it, so let’s talk about the process, the pros and cons, how it’s done, types of transfer mediums out there for this approach, and so forth.

I’m pretty sure this will comprise two (or more) blog posts to cover the topic thoroughly. But at least by then I’ll be able to say, “Oh yes. I’ve written about that, and you can find it here!”

The carbon transfer process harkens back to the days of The Carbon Copy. Carbon paper has been around since the early 1800’s, and carbon copies enjoyed their heyday in the Age of the Typewriter. Using carbon paper was an efficient way of making duplicate copies.

In arts and crafts and sewing, carbon copy methods work more or less the same way as carbon paper in a typewriter, except your hand and an implement of some sort – a ballpoint pen, a stylus – takes the place of the typewriter.

For the carbon transfer process in sewing applications, you place your fabric on a hard surface, you place a sheet of carbon transfer paper on top of the fabric, carbon-side down, and then you place the pattern on top of the carbon paper. It is helpful to somehow secure all layers so they don’t shift while you’re making your copy. I generally use bits of tape for securing.

You can see the layers for the carbon transfer process in the first photo above.

Next, you draw over the lines of your design, applying enough pressure to get the carbon to transfer to the fabric.

So that’s the concept, and it sounds pretty easy, and it does work in many cases. But there are extenuating circumstances that can make this transfer process a little more difficult that you’d think.

For example, not all carbon transfer mediums behave equally.

Additionally, the fabric you’re working on can affect the transfer.

And then there’s the pressure you have to exert – depending on the carbon product, the paper your design is printed or drawn on, the fabric you’re using, and so forth. If you have to exert a lot of pressure to get your transfer, it can often be exhausting.

Because of this latter point especially, I would say that it’s not always the easiest and most “comfortable” way of transferring. But, again, it depends on factors.

And many times, it works. And even if it doesn’t work as well as you’d like, you can take measures to make the transfer better.

For this sample that I’m working through here, I’m using “dressmaker’s carbon” in a medium gray color.

Mostly, dressmaker’s carbon is not used to transfer detailed designs. It’s used to transfer the (larger) lines of a sewing pattern onto fabric, to give cutting guides, but not really to supply a detailed design line for meticulous hand stitching.

But it’s the most common transfer medium you’ll find in needlework / sewing-related stores.

You can see the impression of the transfer on the back of the carbon above – and you’d think it would have made a pretty good transfer. But in fact, it didn’t really come out that clear.

I went back over the design with a mechanical pencil to touch it up, and now it’s much clearer and would make a suitable guide for embroidering.

The fabric I’m working on here is a light-to-medium weight, closely woven natural-colored linen with a smooth “hand” or fabric surface.

In this case, this particular dressmaker’s carbon worked, but taken on its own, it didn’t work great. It needed the help of the mechanical pencil, making the process one step more complicated.

I know what you’re thinking – and I thought the same thing!

I thought, The color of the fabric coupled with the grayish tone of this particular dressmaker’s carbon doesn’t work well. I bet it would work better on white fabric than on natural!

Well. That’s on medium weight white linen.

Not too satisfactory.

It still required the use of the mechanical pencil – even more so, in fact, than with the natural fabric.

Why?

No idea.

But that’s the way it worked.

There are different brands and types of dressmaker’s carbon, and it comes in different colors – white, yellow, red, blue, and grey are common colors for dressmaker’s carbon.

Dressmaker’s carbon can be used for embroidery design transfer, but it is not ideal. As mentioned, it isn’t really meant for transferring the detailed designs which are often typical for hand embroidery.

Those are a couple examples of playing around with only one kind and one color of dressmaker’s carbon, just to give you an overview of how carbon transfers work.

But wait! There’s more!

There are other options for this type of transfer technique, so we’re going to explore the subject further. To this end, I pulled out a nice variety of linens in various weights, in both white and natural – and even in black – to play with the process.

Coming up, I’ll share some tips, pros & cons, suggestions & alternatives as we further explore the topic of using carbon transfer techniques for detailed hand embroidery designs!

Coming Up!

Later this week, I’ll be reviewing a new embroidery book on the market, and I’ll be hosting a give-away for a digital copy of that book. Look for that on Friday!

On Wednesday, we’ll talk about the Letter we Love.

Oh what is the letter we love? What sound are we extra-fond of?
Without any trouble, you know it’s a W when you hear W-W-W-W!

(Couldn’t resist a little Ernie & Bert…)