Transfer an Image or Pattern onto Fabric with an Iron-On Transfer Pencil

Posted by Christine Mann Oct 21, 2009

Supplies needed

• Iron-on transfer pencil. This is a specially formulated pencil that will leave a line on the fabric when ironed with a medium-hot iron. General, Dritz, or Aunt Martha’s Hot Iron Transfer brands are available at fabric and crafts stores.
• Tracing paper
• Iron

Step by Step Instructions

1. Lay a piece of tracing paper over the image. Trace the image with the transfer pencil, pressing firmly to make solid marks.
2. Lay the tracing paper over the fabric with the pencil side down.
3. Press the paper with a medium-hot iron. The lines of the drawing will transfer onto the fabric.

Two Important Notes

1. The lines you trace will be permanently visible on the fabric.

2. The image ironed onto the fabric will be the reverse (mirror image) of the original image. To transfer images with words or images which need to be oriented in a certain direction, you will need to use a printer to print a reverse copy of the image before you trace it. Many printers have printing reverse images as an option on the printer settings menu. If your printer doesn’t have that setting, you can use an image editing program to flip the image before printing it. That way, the image transferred to fabric will be oriented in the right direction.