Tutorial: Transferring Patterns to Fusible Fabric

I’ve been patiently working on my largest fused quilt to date: 36”x24”. This is a project for Susan Brittingham’s Flower Power class at QU. I seriously considered using freezer paper-appliqué for this quilt, but since I’ve never used that technique, I thought I would save it for a smaller starter project.

I’m a little further ahead with my fusible-piecing than this photo shows, but I’m saving that for the “big reveal”:

In the meantime, I wanted to share a really useful technique I learned from Laura Wasilowski for transferring patterns to Steam-a-Seam. This saves a lot of time, in that you don’t have to mirror-image or continually retrace pattern pieces.

You’ll need to estimate how much fabric you’ll need, since you’re adding the fusible in advance of cutting out the pieces.

1. Lay fabric face-down on ironing surface. Peel release paper from one side and lay Steam-a-Seam (I use S-a-s 2, which is lighter than the original version) fusible side down, paper side up, onto the fabric

2. Press with hot iron (no steam) for 5 seconds or so

3. Let the piece cool for a couple of minutes, then peel the release paper from the fabric. You should now have fabric face-down, sticky fusible face-up

4. Take the release paper you just peeled from the fabric, and lay it over your pattern. Trace a pattern piece onto the release paper with a Sharpie (you can also use a pencil, but my eyes appreciate the thick line of the Sharpie. I don’t know whether the black Sharpie will show through on lighter fabrics, however). Do NOT reverse or mirror-image the pattern. I trace all the pattern pieces for one color of fabric at the same time. Leave a little “cutting room” between each tracing on the release paper.

5. Take your release paper back to the ironing surface, and lay it face-down (Sharpie side down) onto the sticky fusible side of the fabric.

6. Press with a hot iron (no steam) for 5 seconds or so

7. Slowly peel back the release paper to make sure the Sharpie lines have transferred. If they haven’t, replace the release paper and continue to press with the hot iron.

8. You should now have the pattern pieces transferred to the back of your fusible-fabric. Whether you cut them out on the lines or leave a little extra “cutting room” will depend on whether the piece will be overlapped with another piece.

Let me know if something isn’t clear in this tutorial or if you have any questions. Have fun fusing!