How to Transfer a Rug Hooking Pattern
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Here's how to use red dot tracing paper or Septic Fabric to transfer a pattern from a printed image to a backing, like linen or monk cloth. Print out the image that needs to be transferred first. Use glue or tape to cut and put your pattern together.
Place a piece of Septic Fabric or red dot transfer paper over the image after cutting it out to a size that is just a little bit bigger than the pattern that needs to be transferred. When using red dot, the dots are evenly spaced on the paper and serve as a guide for aligning the paper.
For the transfer, any kind of permanent marker will do. Because this ink won't smear when heated (for instance, you don't want any ink from the backing to soak into the wool when pressing the finished piece), I prefer black sharpies.
Using a red pencil, trace the pictures onto the transfer paper of your choice. To stop the transfer paper from moving if the pattern is very big, tape it to the printed image. If a pattern has lines or boxes on it, you may want to mark the intersections of the lines instead of tracing them. Hooking or punching in a straight line is much simpler when the pattern has been drawn on the grain in the ditch. Follow the fiber lines on the backing and do this last to guarantee a straight line on the pattern. To draw straight lines, drag a pencil in the ditch.
Cover the backing with the red dot transfer paper. Once more, it is advised to tape the edges of a large pattern down to stop movement.
A light line will transfer to the backing when you trace over the red dot paper image. Proceed to trace each image, including the cross-line annotations.
The backing will now display a faint image of the pattern. Put aside the tracing paper. If you want to hook the pattern again, you can reuse the trace.
After using the marker to go over the image a second time, begin adding the lines or grids. I suggest drawing the outside border of any pattern after transferring it with the tracing paper, being careful to follow the line on the linen or monk cloth to guarantee a straight border. Again in the ditch drag a pencil.
Add the boxes or grid surrounding the pattern using the previously used cross marks.
An extra border can be added as long as there is sufficient space to the backing's edge. To draw your outer border, take equal measurements around each of the pattern's four sides.
When the pattern is complete, sew a zigzag stitch around the backing's very outer edge to keep it from fraying. Serging the outside edge is an additional choice. Use masking tape on the edges to keep them from fraying if you don’t have access to a sewing machine/serger.
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