How to trace an embroidery pattern (window, light box or tablet)

Window, light box or tablet?

Can you use an iPad or any tablet as a light box? Yes, for a design that fits on the screen. Open a blank white page, turn the brightness all the way up, and set the screen so it doesn't lock while you work. Lay a clear plastic sleeve over the glass, tape the pattern to it, and press lightly. You're drawing on fabric, not on the screen.

All three need fabric thin and light enough for the lines to show through. Oatmeal linen usually is. Dark or heavy fabric isn't: see transferring to dark fabric.

Which pen to trace with

• A water-soluble marking pen. Our pick for a piece you'll rinse at the end. The marks come out in water. Test it on a scrap of the same fabric, and don't iron over the marks before they're rinsed out.
• A heat-erasable pen. The lines fade with an iron or a hair dryer, but they can come back when the fabric gets very cold, and you need heat near your finished stitches to clear them.
• A regular pencil, used lightly. Needle 'n Thread suggests a light touch with an ordinary pencil. It won't rinse out completely, so put every line exactly where a stitch will cover it.
• Not a permanent pen. Fine-line permanent pens aren't made for fabric that gets washed, and dark ink near light thread is a risk.

Whatever you pick, choose a light color and a light hand. A heavy, dark line is harder to remove and harder to hide. FriXion vs water-soluble pens goes deeper on the first two.

How to trace a pattern, step by step

1. Press the fabric. Start with pre-washed fabric, pressed flat. A crease under the pattern turns into a kink in the line.
2. Print the pattern at full size. Print at 100% and measure it. For a 6-inch hoop, the design should leave at least half an inch inside the ring.
3. Tape the pattern down. Tape all four corners to the window, the light box or the sleeve over your tablet.
4. Lay the fabric over it, square. Center the design and keep the fabric on the grain, with the threads running straight up and down. Tape all four sides so nothing shifts.
5. Test the pen. Mark a scrap of the same fabric, rinse it and let it dry. If the mark is gone, go ahead.
6. Trace in long, light strokes. Follow each line in one smooth movement where you can. Short, sketchy strokes make a fuzzy line that's hard to stitch along.
7. Check before you untape. Lift one corner of the fabric and compare it with the pattern. A missed line is easy to add now.

Tracing a pattern with a dot at every stitch

Our patterns mark every needle hole with a dot, about 1/8 inch apart, and a dog portrait has hundreds of them. Tracing every dot by hand takes a long evening, and each one that's a little off moves a stitch.

• Trace the lines, then mark a few dots. Put a dot at each corner, the tip of each ear, the ends of each line and the tightest curves. Space the stitches in between by eye, at about 1/8 inch.
• Trace the shapes for satin stitch. For the eyes and nose, trace the outline and the bare highlight inside it. You fill those shapes by eye anyway.
• Or print it instead. A stick and stitch sheet puts every dot exactly where the pattern has it. Here's how to print on stick and stitch.

Tracing problems

I can't see the pattern through the fabric.

The fabric is too dark or too thick for light to pass through. Use a stick and stitch sheet or the tissue-paper method instead.

The lines wobble.

Rest the side of your hand on the fabric, draw long strokes, and slow down on curves.

The fabric shifted halfway through.

Tape all four sides, not just the top. If it moved, rinse out the marks, dry and press the fabric, and start again.

The pen feathers into the linen.

Press more lightly and move a little faster. A finer tip helps.

The marks didn't rinse out.

See pattern lines showing after stitching for each kind of pen.

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 print an embroidery pattern on stick and stitchPrinter settings, the soft side, the plain-paper test and the ink setting that rinses clean: printing a pattern on stick and stitch at home.
• 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 turn a photo into an embroidery pattern (hand embroidery)Trace a photo into hand-embroidery line art yourself, or let a pattern maker draw it with every stitch marked.
• ComparisonStick and stitch vs water-soluble stabilizer: what's the difference?Stick and stitch is a printable, self-adhesive water-soluble stabilizer. How it compares to the plain kind, and which is easier for a beginner.
• 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.
• ComparisonLinen vs cotton: what's the best fabric for hand embroidery?Oatmeal linen for a black-thread pet portrait, quilting cotton as an easy alternative, and the fabrics to skip for a first piece.