How-to guide
Pattern lines still showing after you stitch? What to do
Most leftover pattern lines come out with more water, not more scrubbing. Soak stick and stitch ink or water-soluble pen lines again in lukewarm water and finish under the running tap. A line peeking out beside a stitch needs one more stitch over it. Carbon and iron-on lines can be permanent, so plan to cover them.
First, which kind of line is it?
How you get a line out depends on how it got there. Match what you see to its source.
Leftover pattern lines: where they come from and whether they wash out
| What you see | Where it came from | Will it wash out? |
|---|---|---|
| Grey dots or a grey haze after the rinse | Printer ink from a stick and stitch sheet | Usually, with another soak and a rinse under the tap |
| A grey line beside a stitch, before the rinse | The printed sheet, still on the fabric | Yes, it goes with the sheet. Check the stitch is on its line. |
| Blue or purple pen lines | A water-soluble marking pen | Yes, with plain water. Rinse them out before any heat. |
| Lines that vanished under the iron | A heat-erasable pen | Not reliably: heat hides the ink rather than removing it |
| Smudgy colored lines | Carbon or dressmaker's transfer paper | It depends on the paper. Check the packet. |
| Crisp lines that don't budge | An iron-on transfer pen, pencil or printed transfer | Usually not. Most are made to be permanent. |
Grey marks after a stick and stitch rinse
This is the most common one, and the most fixable. Sulky, who make a printable, sticky water-soluble stabilizer, explain it simply: the ink floats up in the bowl and clings to the fabric as you lift it out.
- Don't press it yet. Leave the iron alone until the marks are gone.
- Soak it again. Fresh lukewarm water, about 104°F, for another 5 minutes. Swish it gently instead of rubbing.
- Rinse under the running tap. Hold it under lukewarm running water before it leaves the bowl, so the floating ink washes off instead of settling back on.
- Dab a stubborn dot. Put a tiny drop of mild soap on a fingertip, dab the dot very gently, and rinse it again under the tap. Dab, don't scrub.
- If it's still there once dry. Sulky's answer for ink that survives a soak is a laundry stain pretreatment, sometimes twice. Test it on a scrap of the same linen and on a wet snip of your floss first, keep it on the mark, and rinse well.
- Dry flat, then press. Roll it in a towel, dry it flat until just damp, and press it face down on folded towels.
Next time: print on the lightest or draft setting, let the ink dry for 5 minutes, and trim the extra sheet close to your stitches before the soak. Less ink in the bowl means less to settle.
A printed line peeking past your stitches
Before the rinse, a little grey beside your thread is normal: the sheet is still there. What matters is where the stitch sits. If it landed beside its line instead of on it, the stitch stays where you put it after the sheet is gone, and the drawing shifts by that much.
- Stitch on the dots. Come up and go down exactly on them. Each dot is a hole.
- Use 2 strands. One strand is fine for whiskers, but it's narrow enough to let a printed line show beside it. Two strands cover it. See how many strands.
- Grey right along a line after the rinse is ink caught in the linen next to the stitches, not the line itself. Give it the second soak above.
- Dots under dense satin are the slowest to go. A second short soak works better than picking at them.
Pen lines: water-soluble and heat-erasable
Water-soluble marking pens (usually blue or purple) are made to come out with water. Rinse the piece in plain water until every line is gone, and do it before an iron or a hair dryer goes anywhere near it, so you never find out the hard way how your pen's ink reacts to heat. The pen's own instructions are the final word on how its ink comes out.
Heat-erasable pens work differently: heat makes the ink invisible, but it doesn't lift it out of the fabric. Treat every line as one that might show again, and stitch right over it. Before you trust a new pen on a gift, test it: draw on a scrap of the same fabric, erase it with heat, rinse it, and look again the next day. The two kinds of pen are side by side in FriXion vs water-soluble pens.
Carbon and iron-on lines
Carbon and dressmaker's transfer papers vary a lot. Some are made to brush or wash away, and some stay. The packet tells you which. If it doesn't say, assume the marks are there for good.
Iron-on transfer pens, pencils and printed iron-on patterns are usually permanent by design. Your stitches have to cover every line, so trace them thin and stitch on top of them with 2 strands. If a line still shows, add a stitch over it rather than scrubbing: scrubbing roughs up the thread long before it moves the ink. Iron-on transfers and carbon transfer paper cover both methods.
How to avoid leftover lines next time
- Pick the method for the fabric. Every transfer method compared shows which ones wash away.
- Test before the real thing. Mark a scrap of the same fabric, stitch a little over it, and rinse it the way you'll rinse the piece.
- Go light. The least ink, the thinnest pen line, the lightest carbon pressure that you can still see.
- Rinse before heat. Nothing goes under an iron until every mark is out.
Questions people ask
How do I remove transfer marks?
It depends on the method. Stick and stitch ink and water-soluble pen come out with a lukewarm soak and a rinse under the tap. Heat-erasable pen, carbon and iron-on lines may never fully wash out, so cover them with stitches.
Why is there grey ink after I rinsed stick and stitch?
The ink floats in the bowl and settles back onto the fabric as you lift it out. Soak it again and rinse it under running water before it leaves the bowl. Print on the lightest setting next time.
Will the pen wash out?
A water-soluble marking pen will, with plain water, as long as you rinse it before any heat touches it. A heat-erasable pen only turns invisible, and an iron-on pen is usually permanent.
Should I iron embroidery before the lines are gone?
No. Rinse every mark out first, then dry the piece flat and press it face down on folded towels.
Sources: Sulky: Getting marks off fabric after soaking · Wandering Threads: How to use stick & stitch transfer paper · Needle 'n Thread: How to iron embroidered goods