Aging myself here, but do you remember back in highschool taking home economics class and one of the things we just had to have in our supply list was coloured waxed paper and a tracing wheel? I hated that stuff with a passion. It rubbed off so easily and just made a heck of a mess. It wasn’t too long ago that I found that original pack from highschool in a file folder. I unearthed it and blue and yellow crap everywhere. What a messy discovery that was. No, I have no idea why I had kept it all these years.
Let’s fast forward to, ya know, the current century, and take a look at Saral’s Wax-Free Transfer Paper. The folks at Saral were kind enough to send me a sampler package to play with.
In the sampler package comes 5 sheets of transfer paper, one of each colour: white, red, yellow, blue and black (graphite):
If life hadn’t gone a little crazy earlier this year, I’d actually have my bed quilt ready for quilting and could show you how the transfer paper works on an actual project. Instead, I grabbed a couple of scrap blocks to test with.
The transfer paper is pretty thin, not quite as thin as tracing paper, but thinner than regular printer paper and slightly delicate. I used the edge of a regular mechanical pencil to draw my lines. A ball point pen or an unpointed tool like a stylus would have been better. I had to press lightly with my pencil so as not to tear the paper.
I drew four lines on my dark fabric: white, red and two yellow lines. I wanted to test the smudge-ability and if the line erased too quickly just with handling. You’ll see the top of the red line and the first yellow line where I tried to rub it off, quite vigorously with my hands. While they are a lighter, they can still be seen quite easily. Very handy when machine quilting, as I hate when chalk products or disappearing ink vanishes before I can finish the project.
I did the same rub off test with the blue transfer paper on a scrap of white fabric, sorry the picture is a bit blurry:
The next test was to see how easy does it come off the fabric when I’m all done with it. Before I did this test, I heat-set with a hot iron and steam, as if my test fabrics were the background of appliqué blocks. I then used a moistened cloth and lightly pressed it to the lines. The blue fabric came out very quickly and the white just needed an extra rub to get the line to disappear.
I was impressed, especially that I could heat-set it and it washed out just perfectly. I’m really big into appliqué these days and this will be fantastic for drawing my placement lines on my background fabric. I also want to try back-basting appliqué and this will be really useful for that too. For me, it’s all about being able to wash away my lines when I’m done with them. Of course, I’ll be sure to test my actual project fabric, just in case.
I could also use it to draw my quilting lines and have the confidence that the lines are not going to vanish before I finish the quilt. Saral has a really useful web site, so you can read more usage ideas over there. You can buy economy rolls of the product too.
This is one product that has definitely improved since my high school years.
Now for the give-away! Saral has generously donated 10 sampler packages for my blog readers. Each package contains one 8 1/2″x11″ sheet of each colour as shown above. To enter the give-away, leave a comment below telling me creatively how you would use this product. Winners will be chosen next Wednesday.
QuiltAlbum Blog Hop
Don’t forget to visit today’s bloggers in the QuiltAlbum Blog Hop. Come back tomorrow for my special day!
- Linda lum deBono – Dzyning Things
- Vanessa Christenson – V and Co.
P.S. Facebook friends, you must enter on the blog post itself to be entered in the give-away. Click here to enter.
Looks like good !
Sounds (and looks) very interesting! Would be great for marking hand embroidery and cross stitch as well. (my mom does a lot of that) I would likely use it more for applique and quilting if it worked well for me!
I really like this idea as I’ve been trying to decide how to mark the quilts I’ll be quilting on my HQ. Had a client that was struggling on how to mark her quilt as the chalk was coming off. If I had this product I could of whipped it out and “really” impressed her1
I would use this for marking both quilting designs and hand embroidery. Thanks
I would love to try this product to mark my quilt tops for quilting designs..could prove handy for trying out new designs
This is perfect for drawing my custom quilt designs … wow even on dark fabric and it won’t rub off! So I can use it on the entire top not just one portion at a time!
I would love these for my marking for hand embroidery and hand quilting! thanks
I would love to try this on some hand embroidery….looks really neat.
I think this would be great to help me since I am new to quilting with finishing my quilt. Helping me place the design I want to use to quilt my quilt.
I would definitely use it to help with applique! I’m still learning so this would really help. Thanks for the great giveaway!
I would use it to make free motion machine lines
I remember using the old stuff in home-ec too! Great to hear that this works, I would love to use it to trace quilting lines on my background.
It would be great to transfer stitchery-motives to the light fabrics
What a walk down memory lane. I hated that paper too, but then I remember carbon paper to type a carbon copy. I wouldn’t want to go back to those days knowing the new technology. The Saral Transfer Paper looks like a good thing.
I, too, remember the old tracing paper and the little wheel-gizmo you used with it. I, too, still have mine from the 80’s! This new product sounds like it might be just what I’ve been looking for to solve the problem I have marking quilting designs on darker fabrics. I almost ruined my last quilt with white markings on dark brown fabric that I almost did not get off!
If you send me a package of Saral Transfer Paper
I will use it when I set out on my next caper
Quilting up some lines on a double bed size
It should provide some guidance, I tell you no lies….
Looks like just what I need to transfer stitchery designs onto dark fabrics. I also need it for my 2-fabric applique projects. Thanks.
I could do hand embroidery and also applique with! Thanks for the info!!
I would love this product! I would use it for quilting and applique’.
Looks like good stuff. I’ve wanting to try it.
i actually used this many years ago to transfer patterns on tin to paint. so easy to use and lines not covered with paint came off easily with turp to get ready to varnish.
So often when I design a landscape or art quilt with many different elements, my finished product does not quite match the original cartoon. I think mapping out placement with Saral Transfer Paper would help me stay true to the spacing of the original.
This product looks like it would come in handy for so many projects! I would LOVE to try it!! :)
I would love to use this for transfering quilting designs and to share this with my students. I just starting teaching beginning machine quilting and am always looking for new products.
I would use this to trace out my stitcheries. I’d even be able to stitch on dark fabrics, something I haven’t done before! Thanks for telling us about this product.
I would use this product (Saral) for marking on darker fabrics. It is harder to find a marker for this purpose.
I don’t get it. You draw on one side of the paper and it transfers to the fabric? Wow, how have I never heard of this? I have to get some to play with. I don’t believe it’s that easy!
this would be good to copy the intricate designs we wnt to use at
christmas time
Looks wonderful.
“Trapunto, Trapunto, let the designing begin”!!!
I would use it to transfer embroidery patterns. I’d love to just be able to draw over the pattern and poof! it’s done! and no worry about lines being permanent.
I’d use it to transfer quilt patterns to my quilt tops.
I’d use it to transfer quilt patterns to my quilt tops. Easy Peasy
I have used it before and it was great for marking the background of my applique.
used to use a product like this when I was a tailor apprentice. Nice to know it’s still around. See, it’s gotta be good, it’s still here.
I have used this paper & it is great! Mostly for transferring sashiko designs onto fabric. I never thought to use for quilting designs, but that would work too. Thanks for the tip!
it would ge good to transfer designs – quilting . Now to see if I can find it locally
I’ve been using this stuff for years! It’s wax-free and like carbon paper without the carbon. It’s great for transferring any kind of design – applique or quilting. I have used it to trace the outline of an odd-shaped paper pattern onto fabric – saves having to actually cut the paper pattern. Works great – I love it! Send me some – my supply is running low!
oh my goodness, yes, i remember the cheap-o stuff from home ec also. hahaha, way back when. This product looks easy to use, and much better than what we used to use. I would love to try this product. Thanks
Sure, a new tracing product would be great! I have tried everything from the waxy stuff with the tracing wheel to about all things on the market. Don’t care for anything I’ve seen. I think this sounds as if it has promise. Thank you.
Thanks for the intro to this product. It would be great to transfer stitchery patterns. Thanks
The Saral paper sounds like a much needed product. I’d use it for FMQ and placing applique pieces. I’m work on Erin Russek’s BOM from last year and this might make it even easier to place. Collecting the patterns from “my tweets” but haven’t started them yet. What applique are you working on and are you going to share some pictures?
The Saral paper sounds almost to good to be true. I do alot of needle work and I hate to use a pencil on my fabric. Transfering designs would be so easy with this..
Please send me some..
For when I do my art quilts, marking the placement of the different features.
I would like to try it out on a crazy quilt.
I’ve started learning stitchery and would use this to transfer embroidery designs to background fabric. As these are for a quilt, then could use the transfer paper to also mark for applique as would be cool to learn to use applique and stitchery and patchwork together in a quilt. It would be fun to use.
W ehave a group out the back of my house and have a get together for painting and quilting patchwork ect and use saral for both, we have a lot of trouble getting it here would love to win it
quilt hugs sue
Wow, I have some of the old transfer paper hidden away too! This is a product that I need to try. I am tired of pencil rubbing off, or disappearing before I finish my project!
OOOH!!! My hand stitchery and my hand piecing…..sure looks like handy stuff!
Wow! How cool. I never thought of using that for quilts. I bought some of this product about 4 yrs ago when hubby and I redid my entire sewing room but I didn’t use it for fabric. I had different sewing sayings that I wanted to hand paint onto the trim at the top of the wall. I printed the little sayings and then laid the transfer paper over the wood and then after cutting the sayings into piece by words, I taped those over top of the transfer paper. Once there I traced each letter outlining each one. Then when done I removed it all and hand painted each of the words and hubby then attached the trim to the wall afterward. It worked wonderfully. This was before the different printers for lettering etc. became such huge hits so that was not an option.