transferring designs from paper to fabric
 

I'm new to free motion quilting but already it's my absolute favourite thing. So far I've just done a bunch of practice sandwiches and, other than a few feather stems, I haven't actually drawn anything on the fabric, I just did it on the fly. Now I want to try something structured and intricate and I've printed off a pattern I really want to do but I have serious hand problems from too many years on the computer using a graphic tablet and pen. Using tracing paper would cause several days of pain. I need another method. My hand is fine for anything that isn't like holding a pen. What other options are there?

The only way I know of marking without holding a marker in your hand, is with the ponce pad. This is a pad that you saturate with loose chalk, then gently go over a stencil with the pad, theoretically depositing the chalk in the design lines where it will stay until you remove it. I haven't used this myself yet, so I can't vouch for how well it works.

I haven't tried doing fmq with a marked pattern, as I think it would be difficult to stick to the lines. I'd be interested in hearing what others have to say.

The pounce pad was my answer too ...but...if you want to rent a Longarm machine you could use the laser light...mine works from the front of the machine too...

I saw that pounce setup but how would I create a stencil out of a design on a piece of paper? Wouldn't I need it to be on a plastic sheet with cutouts where the lines go?

you can take the paper and sew through it on your sewing machine without thread in the needle. i'd use a large needle to make larger holes in the paper.

Oooh - I would have never thought of that! Thanks! This would give me a kind of practice doing the pattern beforehand too!

You can also just temporarily stick the paper down to the quilt and quilt right through it and then tear it away. Just pick paper that is thin so it's easy to tear. Regular printer paper is not the best for this - there is printable newsprint you can buy that's pretty cheap.

You can pin it down to the quilt, or I just use a glue stick! Works great. I haven't tried spray basting glue but I betcha that would work too.

All the other methods I can think of involve tracing, which sounds like a bad option for you!

Golden Threads paper or Sulky Solvy work well if you don't want to mark directly on the quilt. I also tried to make templates from freezer paper and iron them on, but they kept falling off while I was quilting them. I have cut templates out of stencil plastic and drawn around them, then meander between the shapes. To actually draw on the fabric, my favorite is the "blue line eraser" and markers that go with them. They are awesome!

This my suggestion, too. You can stack several pieces of paper under your design and sew without thread. Then just pin these to your quilt and sew away!

Golden Threads is the paper I used, also, Katier825. This was when I first started FMQ. Just wanted to add that I soon discovered that I much prefer not trying to follow a design. Mine looked too wiggly. I like to do free form shapes after practicing on a block. I do look on the internet for design ideas. To each his own, good luck!