Printing on Foundation Fabric

Have you ever been faced with wanting to transfer a design to your foundation fabric (linen, burlap, etc), but didn't have the means to do so?  Many of the folks in our group are talented artists and can easily draw their pattern with a sharpie or crayon, but there are some of us who can't draw at all!  Lots of you use Red Dot for this kind of thing, but what if you don't have any?  or want an alternative method?

Did you know you can use your printer at home?  I found instructions on-line, and voilà, it works! You just need to know how to use word processing software (like MS Word or Pages for Mac).

In a nutshell, here's what I did:

- I found a design online that i liked, and it was free to use - no copyright to contend with.
- I pasted the image into a document in my word processing software and played around with the size to fit the page.
- I cut out a piece of freezer paper (bought at Foodland in Cobourg) to 8 1/2 x 11.
- I cut out a piece of foundation fabric (linen in my case) to be equal to or slightly smaller than the freezer paper (and stitched around the edges to stop fraying).
- I laid the shiny side of the freezer paper down on to the linen, and ironed it with medium heat - now the 2 pieces are fused together.
- I popped the freezer paper/linen into my printer with the linen on the bottom.
- I hit print - and out it came!

 Note that it will only work for designs that are no larger than whatever size paper your printer will take.  In most cases this is either 8 1/2 x 11, or 8 1/2 x 14 paper - so using this technique to produce a room-sized rug isn't possible.

This method isn't for everyone or every project - but it's worthwhile to have in your arsenal of tricks.

(Happy New Year, btw!)