Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Meet Sammy, the Vintage Squirrel 🐿


Sammy the Vintage Squirrel
from Vintage Embroidery Transfer
(from an online freebie that is no longer available)

This fun little squirrel was my first experience using a Washable Marker to transfer an embroidery pattern! My pen is the Unique brand, and I bought it at Walmart for less than $5 CA. DMC makes a popular one as well.


The blue is nice and bright and easy to see! It has a felt-pen like tip which gives a pretty thin line. Unfortunately, it doesn't really write like a pen. I found it more effective to use quick, short strokes - much like using a pencil or pen to transfer.


These types of Washable Markers are very popular for embroidery transfers because you don't have to worry if your lines don't quite match your stitching, which also gives you some flexibility. If you want to omit or change the shape of an element you can! This would be incredibly helpful with stitches like the Lazy Daisy. There's a great article by Cheryl Fall about using washable pens for embroidery transfers at Spruce Crafts.

For cross-stitchers, these have some use too. I have recently seen someone on Instagram (@moiraestitches; see her #StageCoachInTheWoods for progress) use one of these markers on Aida, to outline a monotone (single colour) pattern for easy stitching. I think this is a fantastic idea, and saves you from having to constantly consult a chart for simple designs or for large blocks of colour in more complex designs. You could also use them to mark the center of a design or to help mark borders for accuracy!

I followed the lines pretty closely, but I still had a tiny bit of blue showing:


Here's a close-up - the red arrows point to visible marker lines:


I have to admit that I was nervous to wash Sammy, especially with the black and white eye! But a quick dip in cold tap water (I used a sandwich container) and it was like magic: when the marker lines hit the water, they vanished! No scrubbing at all!


Presto, changeo! Abracadabra! Ta-DA! I'm totally impressed, and can't wait to try this marker again 😊

Project Details:
◾ Fabric is 100% quilting Cotton, light beige
◾ 4" vintage wooden hoop
◾ DMC Floss: 919 (Fur), 3833 (Ears), 310 (Nose and Eye), 001 (Eye highlight), 780 (Acorn) and 938 (Acorn Cap)

I used 3 strands of floss for most of the stitching. I used 2 strands of white for the teeth, and also for the white Eye Highlight, with 1 strand of black for Split Stitch to define the outside of the Eye. First, I tried stitching the Eye with all black and adding the highlight with a French Knot, but I didn't like the way the Knot stood out. So I took it back and made a tiny circle with Satin Stitch for the highlight, with a Fly Stitch border:


I like it a lot better! The other place I struggled was Sammy's tail. I wanted a floofy, fluffy, floomphy tail, and I considered using Turkey Stitch first. I worked some samples in the top left corner of the cloth. After a LOT of hemming and hawing, I eventually settled on doing the outside lines on the tail with 6 strands, using Stem Stitch:


It wasn't as fluffy as I wanted but it gave me a nice bit of extra lift:


Ultimately, I think a Turkey Work tail would have overwhelmed her. This was a super fun stitch and a successful experiment in transferring using a Washable Marker! I'm hoping to do another little tester using the Pilot Frixion Pen transfer method soon 👩‍🔬


🍁🍂 Sammy the Squirrel says Happy Autumn! 🍂🍁

7 comments:

Queeniepatch said...

What a charming squirrel.
I am so glad that you have found a useful tool.
Have fun!

Katie said...

Too adorable! Great job with it.

Unknown said...
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Aurelia Eglantine said...

@Queeniepatch: Thank you! I'm always on the look out for new sewing notions to make life easier and it's exciting to find one that works 😄

@Katie: Thanks so much ❤🐿

June (planetjune) said...

Thank you - I've been wondering if I should add a wash-out pen to my toolkit, and you've just convinced me! I'm going to have to grab one of these next time I'm at Walmart (it's especially good to know that Walmart CA carry a good one!)

Aurelia Eglantine said...

Aha! My work is done - I've made a convert 😉 I'm amazed at how well they work, only wish I'd tried them years ago LOL Hope you find one!

rosey175 said...

Ah, I love these washable markers! I mostly use them for counting or gridding... not sure if mine is the DMC or Dritz version. I wanted to use it to "trace" patterns onto some linen towels I've had for ages now (eek) but assumed I'd need to use a light box. Not that that would be difficult; as a kid I made many puppet like toys by using a light box -- a wall lamp in a box with a bit of glass over the top, lol. Did you find that you didn't need a light underneath to transfer the pattern? Have I been lazy all this time (no, don't answer this one)? I do like watching the lines disappear in water but I hold my breath too. Some colors just don't like to behave!