Angelskin

Hello All,
I'm new to quilting. I've been playing around with stippling and want to try something new. I want to be able to transfer a design that I have in one of my quilting books to my most recent quilt top.
I've tried a home made light box, no luck, because my colors are mixed dark and light fabrics so if I use a white fabric pencil I'm unable to see my markings, and same with my black fabric pen.
I've also tried quilt pounce but it's not bright enough either and it wipes off before I start quilting.
I've also tried red and yellow transfer paper thinking that it would help it stand out but it keeps wiping off also.
Please Help!
Thank you!!!

Tartan

Always test new marking pencil on fabric scraps to make sure they are removable. Are you hand quilting or machine quilting? If machine quilting, you may want to look for some Golden Thread quilting paper or rip away preprinted designs. Some people take squares of tissue paper and pencil the design on the top square. You then stitch through the top paper with your machine needle without thread down through the stack. You then have a stack of duplicate patterns with a punched needle design you can follow. You pin the tissue to your block and stitch through the paper and pull it off when you're done.
You can also FMQ (free motion quilt) a design that follows the piecing pattern. SITD(stitch in the ditch) along the piecing lines is also an option.

AshleyR

I'm thinking about doing a project where you flip the quilt over and quilt it. Can it be transferred to the back of the quilt instead?

Dolphyngyrl

Golden Threads quilting paper or tissue paper

Pepita

Since you are stippling, you are doing free motion quilting. There are lots of books out that have various 'pattern motifs' for free motion. If your quilt has blocks, I would suggest that you draw similar blocks on paper, and experiment with matching something you like to fit the block. For instance, I am doing a quilt now that has some flying geese in it. What I did which went with the wedding quilt I am making, was make a heart in the V as the bottom of the heart, and fill the heart going up. Then I make feather like movement, which is just a big parentheses on each side. Doodling around on paper really helps your brain and hand make the free motion work. If you want to have set patterns such as a traditional round feather ring, Tartan's advice is right on. If you want to learn how to free motion with out a pattern, you are going to have to take the leap, and just do it. I have found that when I was starting out, I had better success with Tartan's advice. Some of the areas I would find I could free motion and feel comfortable about doing it with out a pattern. There is also a white pen, which is made by Clover that marks on dark fabrics. I used it in a Sashido (I've misspelled) class by machine that I think Sharon Pederson taught at Quilt Festival. She gave us the Clover pens and they worked like a charm.

Angelskin

Thanks for all the information, I will definitely try the tissue paper idea. Anything is worth the shot. I've tried the white clover pen but since I have equal light and dark fabrics it doesn't show well.

Delta

OOOOOH yes do at the other people have said and test your markers. I work at Joanns part time.(supports my quilting habit) a lady came in with a quilt that she marked in blue, then could not get the marking out. and it was on white. I felt so sorry for her. pls do test first.

kristakz

Don't be afraid to use multiple markers. Use a light one on the dark areas, and a dark one on the light areas. That is what I do now. I've never found anything at all that works for both light and dark equally well, so I switch my marking as needed.

alisonquilts

I've done this several times and it works just fine. Make sure you decide which side you are going to quilt from before layering, if you layer with safety pins or thread basting!

Alison

Angelskin

I would never have thought to quilt from behind. I'll have to try that sometime.