How to use carbon transfer paper for embroidery

Dressmaker's carbon isn't office carbon

The transfer paper sold for sewing and embroidery only works like old carbon paper. Needle 'n Thread describes dressmaker's carbon as graphite-free and wax-free, usually sold in small packs of several colors. Larger sheets and rolls are sold too.

Office carbon paper is made for paper, not cloth, so leave it in the desk drawer. Whatever you buy, read the package for how its marks come off, and test it before it touches a real project.

How to use transfer paper, step by step

1. Work on a hard surface. A bare table or a cutting board, not a padded ironing board. The firm surface is what makes a crisp line.
2. Tape the fabric down. Pre-washed and pressed, centered where you want the design, with the grain straight. Tape all four sides.
3. Add the transfer paper. Lay it on the fabric, colored side down, and tape it in place.
4. Tape the pattern on top. Position the printed pattern over the transfer paper and tape it down too, so the layers can't shift against each other.
5. Trace with firm, long strokes. Use a stylus or an old ballpoint pen that's out of ink. Draw each line in one long, steady movement. Don't sketch: short strokes leave a broken, doubled line.
6. Check a corner. Before you untape anything, lift a corner of the pattern and paper and look. Go over any faint lines while everything is still lined up.

Choosing a color and a paper

• A color that shows, but only just. You want to see the line, not fight to cover it. A pale color on light fabric is often enough.
• A light color for dark fabric. It's one of the few methods that works on dark cloth. More options in transferring to dark fabric.
• Wax-free is the safer pick. Needle 'n Thread notes that Saral's wax-free transfer paper won't set if ironed. Even so, don't press the fabric until the lines are gone.
• Test on a scrap. Mark a scrap of the same fabric and remove the mark the way the package says, before you trace the real thing.

Pros and cons

No transfer paper? Other ways to transfer

• Trace on a window or a tablet, for light fabric. See how to trace a pattern.
• Print on stick and stitch, for detailed designs on any fabric color. See how to print on stick and stitch.
• Tissue paper and tacking stitches, with nothing more than sewing thread and a needle. The steps are in transferring to dark fabric.
• Every method side by side is in how to transfer an embroidery pattern.

Problems and fixes

The lines are too faint.

Check the colored side faces the fabric, work on a harder surface and press more firmly.

Smudges appear where my hand rested.

Lay a sheet of plain paper under your hand as you trace, and handle the marked fabric as little as possible.

The pattern shifted and the lines doubled.

Tape every layer on all four sides before you start, and check a corner before you lift anything.

The lines won't come out.

Follow the package's removal method, and see pattern lines showing after stitching. Next time, test on a scrap first.

Questions people ask

Keep going

• How-to guideHow to transfer an embroidery pattern to fabric: every method comparedNine ways to put a pattern on fabric, side by side: how each one comes off, which work on dark fabric, and which suit a detailed portrait.
• How-to guideHow to transfer an embroidery pattern to dark fabricStick and stitch, the tissue-paper method and light transfer paper: what works on black and navy fabric, and why a light box doesn't.
• How-to guideHow to trace an embroidery pattern (window, light box or tablet)A window, a light box or a tablet, the right pen, and an honest note on tracing a pattern with hundreds of stitch dots.
• How-to guideIron-on embroidery transfers: how they work, and when to use themReady-printed transfers and transfer pens, step by step: the mirror image, the iron, and why you should plan on the lines staying.
• How-to guideHow to use stick and stitch, step by stepPrint, stick, hoop, stitch through and rinse: a pet portrait from sheet to finished hoop, plus how the other transfer methods compare.
• How-to guidePattern lines still showing after you stitch? What to doLeftover pattern lines, sorted by where they came from: stick and stitch ink, pens, carbon and iron-on transfers, and what removes each.