Embroidery is an art I usually practice freehand without the aid of transfers. However, I don’t exclude them completely from my repertoire of stitch wizardry. Embroidery transfers have a certain vintage charm that can add flair to clothing and household linens.

Embroidery transfers are available from several sources – enough to keep needles plying through fabric for many an hour. Maybe even years.

Aunt Martha’s has been making hot-iron transfer designs for more than 70 years. They have a circa 1940s and 1950s feel to them. Even the names given to the sets of transfers evoke the era, such as “Vegetables for the Kitchen,” “Animated Kitchenware” and “Fancy Fruit,” which may not appeal to everyone, but how can you go wrong with the butterfly and floral motifs, hearts and hummingbirds, mermaids or state birds that Aunt Martha’s also produces?

Each Aunt Martha’s transfer package retails for about $1.50 and contains about a dozen designs, each capable of giving more than one imprint.

Aunt Martha’s transfers are available in the Bangor area at craft stores and departments. For those who prefer to shop online, acmenotions.com has a full complement of Aunt Martha’s embroidery transfer patterns.

Another great source of embroidery transfers is Dover Publications, which offers many designs, including ribbon embroidery, Kate Greenaway, Celtic, wizards, dragons, unicorns and fantasy creatures, holidays and special occasions, toys, butterflies, angels, Hawaiian, dinosaur, Jacobean, candlewicking, art nouveau, teddy bear, Peter Rabbit, North American Indian, favorite birds, Celtic dance and William Morris designs.

The designs come bound in book format and retail from $4 to $7. Borders carries a few Dover embroidery transfer design books, and they also can be found online at doverpublications.com, or ordered from local booksellers.

My embroidery transfer collections includes designs from both sources. I like Aunt Martha’s designs on pillow slips. I have used Dover designs on clothing and decorative pillows.

But using commercial embroidery transfers is not the only way to get a design printed on cloth. Fabric and craft stores and departments sell hot-iron transfer pencils for around $2. This requires that you draw or trace your own design. I use tracing paper, but typing paper will work just as well. I make my drawing or tracing either directly with the transfer pencil, or with a regular pencil. If I use a regular pencil, I flip the drawing over and trace the lines on the reverse side with the transfer pencil. Then it’s reasonably simple to apply the design to the fabric with an iron. I say “reasonably” because a lot depends on the fabric and the temperature of the iron. Sometimes, it takes some fiddling.

Embroidery transfers “bleed” best and make the clearest impression when applied to 100 percent cotton fabric with an iron set on cotton-linen with the steam function turned off. The paper containing the design should be pinned to the fabric to prevent it from moving. The iron should be pressed down upon the design, not smoothed back and forth over it.

Another way to apply a design is to draw directly on the fabric with a regular pencil or one with ink that fades with time. This is the method I prefer when I want the result to be original and reflect my own ideas.

But for those times when I want to cover a cuff with a floral spray or add a butterfly to a patch pocket, I reach for embroidery transfers.

Snippets

. Kathy Goldner will present a talk, “Stories of Knitting,” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 13, at Unique One, 2 Bay View St., Camden.

. Khris LaChance, president of Winterport Clippers quilt group in Winterport, announced that the Pine Tree Quilters Guild awarded the group a grant of $350 to purchase fabrics for its annual Maine veterans quilt projects. The Winterport Clippers holds an all-day workshop in the fall to make quilts for veterans. The quilts are delivered in December to Maine Veterans Home in Bangor.

Newly elected Clippers officers for 2008-2009 are Khris LaChance, president, Faylene Cunningham, vice president and Sandy Horn, secretary. Julie Stiles is serving a two-year term as treasurer.

Those interested in joining the group may call Khris LaChance at 223-5424 or Sandy Horn at 525-4433.

. Brace yourselves, knitters. A new knitting magazine is about to be launched – the North American version of the European magazine Verena Knitting. It is billed as “a window into high-fashion direct from Europe’s runways.” The magazine boasts 250,000 European subscribers. To learn more about the magazine and how to subscribe, visit www.VerenaKnitting.com.

ahamlin@bangordailynews.net

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