How to Transfer an Embroidery Pattern onto an Already-Made Bag |Keeping it Real

Remember the cupcake embroidery pattern I shared last week? (find it here, in case you missed it before). I embroidered it directly on an already existing fabric gift bag and the fact is that embroidering an already-made bag may be a lovely way to give it a personal touch—but transferring the design can be a little trickier than working with a flat piece of fabric. It means, for example, that my tried and true method of outlining the pattern against a window pane doesn't really work...

So here are a couple of alternatives for pattern transfer when you're embroidering onto a bag or a thicker piece of fabric.

Water-soluble stabilizer is one of the easiest options, especially for detailed designs or fabrics that are difficult to see through. Trace or print your pattern onto the stabilizer, place it on the bag and stitch directly through it. When your embroidery is finished, the stabilizer dissolves in water, leaving the stitching behind.

Transfer paper is another simple choice. Place dressmaker’s carbon or embroidery transfer paper between your pattern and the bag, then trace over the design with a stylus or pencil. This works particularly well on smooth, medium- or light-colored fabrics. You can also get the printable transfer paper, where you can print the design directly onto the paper and then stick it onto the bag or fabric you want to embroider.

For simple motifs, you can draw directly onto the bag using a water-soluble or heat-erasable fabric pen (water soluble are my favorite). This is ideal for lettering, flowers and uncomplicated shapes where you don’t need to reproduce every tiny detail exactly.

But when you're terrible at freehand drawing (me) and don't want to spend money on transfer paper or stabilizer if you don't already have it at home (me also). then you can replicate the window pane method.

First, you should fit an embroidery hoop into your bag. This is not mandatory, but helps to keep your stitching neat:

Then place the pattern inside (make sure it's centered) and use a light source behind it, in order to be able to trace it. Usually the lit screen of a tablet works well. In my case, the bag was too small to fit a tablet inside, so I used the flashlight on my phone and that way I was able to trace the pattern (I used a water soluble pen for tracing).