Drawing for hand stitching on felt: stains?

[caterina]

Hello!
It's me again, sorry to be a bother, but this is kind of crucial to a particular project, and I seem to be bad at searching the forum, I can't find a thread on this.

I have an idea of a design for a white felt, but it will require me to be able to draw my design on felt without staining it, then wash it all away with warm water. On cotton I would use normal tailor pencils, or the special copy paper used for embroidery projects, but I am wondering if it would stain felt. Especially because it is white, and I really want to keep it as pure natural a white as possible.

If one does not use those methods on felt, what do you use for intricate designs of embroidery on felt?
Stitching a paper template on the felt, then embroidering over the paper and the felt springs to mind, but..I never used this method and I am afraid that everything will move while stitching (?). I mean hand embroidery, not machine, just to clarify.

Thank you!
Caterina

[Shepherdess]

quilters use a pen the fades quickly or one that disappears when you iron it. I have used tailers chalk for crude outlines. It smudges too fast for detailed work. You can also try a thin wash-away stabilizer if you are stitching.

[MTRuth]

I would recommend the wash away stabilizer. You can baste it in place. You could use tissue paper and do it the same way.

[Ann @ frabjous fabrica]

I would also recommend water soluble fabric (WSF), for two reasons. First you can trace your design onto the WSF - but do use a permanent marker pen so that the marks don't run when you wash out the WSF and then tack it onto the felt and embroider over the design.
The other reason is that a lot of intricate embroidery stitches will disappear into the felt, or certainly not look as good as they do on fabric. The WSF will keep the embroidery stitches on the surface. Embroiderers use WSF when embroidering on velvet for the same reason. Sulky Solvi or Vilene SoluFleece are a couple of names which spring to mind. Once the embroidery is finished you can soak off the film. If you wash it well enough the film will completely disappear but if you want a bit of extra "body" you can leave some of the solution in the felt and shape it as it dries - make a bowl or something like that. It depends on what your project is of course.
Ann

[caterina]

Apr 7, 2021 23:50:38 GMT Shepherdess said:

quilters use a pen the fades quickly or one that disappears when you iron it. I have used tailers chalk for crude outlines. It smudges too fast for detailed work. You can also try a thin wash-away stabilizer if you are stitching.

Thanks for the suggestion. Yes, maybe chalk would smudge a bit too much.
Caterina

[caterina]

Apr 8, 2021 0:33:56 GMT MTRuth said:

I would recommend the wash away stabilizer. You can baste it in place. You could use tissue paper and do it the same way.

Thank you, Ruth.
I have tons of tissue paper that I could use, but I see that the general consensus is wash away stabilizer.
Caterina

[caterina]

Apr 8, 2021 6:51:27 GMT Ann @ frabjous fabrica said:

I would also recommend water soluble fabric (WSF), for two reasons. First you can trace your design onto the WSF - but do use a permanent marker pen so that the marks don't run when you wash out the WSF and then tack it onto the felt and embroider over the design.
The other reason is that a lot of intricate embroidery stitches will disappear into the felt, or certainly not look as good as they do on fabric. The WSF will keep the embroidery stitches on the surface. Embroiderers use WSF when embroidering on velvet for the same reason. Sulky Solvi or Vilene SoluFleece are a couple of names which spring to mind. Once the embroidery is finished you can soak off the film. If you wash it well enough the film will completely disappear but if you want a bit of extra "body" you can leave some of the solution in the felt and shape it as it dries - make a bowl or something like that. It depends on what your project is of course.
Ann

Thank you, Ann.
A good point about the stitches disappearing in the felt, I will keep it in mind for future projects, and adjust my plan for this one accordingly: I have in mind two possible ways to make my design, and, now that you have pointed this out, I think that I will go for the second one, which requires 3D details sticking out much more from the surface. Thank you.
Caterina