Marking tools and techniques for quilting
Golden Threads
Golden Threads paper is a fine transparent vellum. It is a very useful product for transferring designs to your quilt.
There are a number of options for how you use it:
(1) Trace your design onto the Golden Threads paper and sew directly through it. It is easy to sew through and tear away.
(2) Trace your design onto the Golden Threads paper.
Layer up a number of blank Golden Threads pieces of the same size and place them under your “master template”. Hold them together at the corners using a pin (but place them so they are never close to where you are sewing).
Sew through the top traced design using a needle without thread in your sewing machine. Use the largest needle you have. An old needle would be perfect!
We suggest using the same settings you would use for Free Motion Quilting (feed dogs down, stitch length of zero and width of zero) and use a darning foot (or your longarm standard FMQ foot).
Lay the designs on your quilt and using the needle-punched design as a guide sew through it.
(3) Use the same technique as in (1) and (2) above but this time instead of sewing through the paper use Pounce Chalk (see below) .
To do this place your pre-punched design over the area of the quilt you wish to transfer the design to. Hold or pin it in place. Wipe the Pounce Pad over the needle-punched template - (the technique works best with the template wrong side up, as the sharp edges of the needle holes catch the chalk powder better). When you remove the paper the chalk will have gone through the gaps. Now you can use the chalk as a guide. This way your needle-punched template can be used many times. The chalk lines can be easily removed with a brush. (Or ironed away, or by using a damp cloth).
Tips:
1 Scale your blocks to fit your quilt and then trace them.
Use a Proportional Scale to calculate your finished design size or calculate yourself.
For example, if your existing block design is 12” and you want it to be 10” you take 12/10 and multiply by 100 to get the % you would need to (in this case) reduce it by ie 83.33%. You can get a print/copy shop to scale it or use a design software package to reduce it and print it out at the right size.
2 The Golden Threads paper is translucent so you can audition your blocks on your quilt individually and check it will look good before quilting. Pin the traced blocks onto each block on your quilt. Maybe take a picture for reference.