Hello everyone
How are you this bright and sunny Monday morning? It is beautiful weather here in Cape Town, although I know it is probably a little more chilly in your part of the world.
I know I say this every year but cant believe that Christmas is upon us once again! There are a few things I want to discuss with you before the year end – firstly I have been meaning to do a blog post on our classes in Johannesburg but life has been hectic and just have not had the time. Please forgive me my lovely Joburg ladies I will get round to it early in the new year.
Christmas Shut Down
The Etsy shop will close on the 30th November 2015 and re-open first week of January 2016. There will be some new kits in the store in January along with some exciting new additions to the store in the New Year.
Digital Downloads
The digital download store will remain open throughout the festive season so if you have a yen to do some stitching over Christmas or New Year (or need to take some time out from the hoards of relatives:)) you can download a PDF file of any pattern available in the store. The digital section in the Etsy store provides access to any of my patterns in digital form. This means you can instantly download a pattern to your computer/tablet and either print it out or store it.
Also just to let you know that the Provencal Landscape design is now available as a digital download in the Etsy store.
Iron On Transfer Pens
One of the challenges some of you face with a digital pattern is tracing the outline onto your fabric – it can appear wobbly or inaccurate but I have come across a wonderful iron on transfer pen at Sublime Stitching which does the job beautifully, no more wobbly, uneven lines a beautiful crisp print on your fabric.
I bought a few for myself and they work perfectly on both linen and cotton fabrics. It performs better then any pen I have tried in the past because it has a fine line tip so the lines are not too thick. I recommend the black as it comes out a dark blue on the fabric. There are clear instructions on how to use it – All you need to do is:
- print out a copy of your outline as provided in the instructions, you will need to reverse the image so that it comes out the right way on the fabric. It may be helpful to take it to a photocopy store who will do this for you, or if you have an illustration programe you can do it yourself. Alternatively you can turn the printed page over and trace on the wrong side.
- Trace over the all the image lines with the pen.
- Place the image face down on the center of your fabric and place a hot iron on top of this. Don’t move the iron around or it will distort the image, just hold it in place and count to ten slowly. If you have a heat press this works even better.
- The image will be transferred onto your fabric.
The pens can be purchased from Sublime Stitching online here.
One of the main reasons I am closing slightly earlier this year is that the postal service slows down considerably at this time of year and I know there is no point in posting anything after end November as it will not reach you till the New Year. I am also taking a bit of time out to complete my new book on Whitework deadline February 2016.
I will be back in the next week or two to give you your Christmas gift, meantime, wherever you are in the world, remember “Embroidery forever, housework whenever!” Keep smiling and happy stitching! Trish
Hello Pat. No the transfer is permanent which is the same as my screen printed outlines for my kits which I have done commercially. There are several wash out ones on the market though if that is what you prefer.
Trish
Will the iron-on pen wash out when you wash your finished piece? Sometimes I will transfer a design then make it take on a life of its own by altering how I want it to look slightly. That means that some items on the original design may not get done at all, or may be done slightly smaller. I need a pen that will wash out when I prepare my piece for framing.