Thanks for this tip. I did one quilt using tissue paper and traced the pattern onto the tissue paper with pencil and it did look dirty. Never would have thought to use colored tissue paper (duh). I also mark as much as I can with masking or painter tape. Works great for straight lines and comes off without any residue on the quilt top and no marks to get rid of. I have had one bad experience with the blue pen that is suppose to wash away. It didn't. I did not iron it or anything like that, it just wouldn't completely wash out so that's why I use tissue paper.
Originally Posted by Boscobd
Originally Posted by annabanana
okay so what kind of tissure paper do you use? like regular toilet paper or the stuff that comes in gift bags or what. can you tell i'm clueless? :)
also what were you gals talking about with the P&S? could you describe your method a bit more??
thanks so much already everyone! :)
a
I use the tissue paper that you get in the gift wrap section of Walgreens, Walmart, KMart, etc - the stuff you put in with holiday gifts. If it's wrinkled or creased, you can press it with the iron to smooth it out a bit.
Trace the image onto the tissue paper and then pin the paper to the quilt and stitch on the lines. I have found that if you are quilting on a light fabric, it's best to use colored tissue paper with the image traced with white pencil as the graphite color will transfer into the stitch holes and the quilting will look "dirty". Darker fabrics work fine with white tissue paper and image in normal pencil. When done stitching, just pull out the paper. For little pieces stuck under stitching, use pointy tweezers to get out.
If you want to try the P&S, it's pretty much the same technique - trace the image onto the "non-sticky" side of the P&S and then pin onto the fabric, stitch on the lines, and peel off when done using tweezers if necessary. The stickiness of the P&S also helps keep it in place. I used a fine point Sharpie to trace the image - it doesn't smear and also didn't seem to transfer into the stitch holes in the fabric. I just has issues with the P&S gumming up my machine.
Hope this helps....