Brandi

I found a Crayola Litght Box yesterday at Wal Mart for $15. I thought that was a good price. Now I need to know how to draw a pattern and transfer it to cloth so I can either color or sew it. Do you use transfer paper? I would appreciate your help. Or is there a U Tube?

Alexandra

I draw or print out my patterns from my computer, place them on the light box. Put the fabric over the pattern, turn on the light box and trace right onto my fabric. When I am doing back basting applique, I turn the paper pattern face down so it is oriented the right way for tracing because you draw the pattern onto the wrong side of the fabric.

costumegirl

I love my light box! I would be lost without it! Mine is homemade and has been in use for years!! It is great for transferring patterns for applique.

I do the same as Alexandra, above, but if I want to make templates of applique "pieces" for a pattern, I use freezer paper.

Place the photo copied pattern upside down (right side facing towards top of the light box) and then using freezer paper on top (shiny side down facing box) trace the pieces you need.
Cut the pieces out with a 1/4" seam allowance around the outside so that it can be turned under when stitching on the applique.
You can then put the freezer paper on the wrong side of your fabric and gently press with your iron - shiny side of freezer paper down facing the fabric so it will stick together.
Cut out your applique piece - next turn under edges and press with your iron (so they will stay in place when stitching).
Gently pull/remove the paper from the fabric piece and stitch your piece onto your project.

Sometimes to help the the edges stay under, a small touch of liquid starch can be applied with a toothpick or small brush on the wrong side of the fabric piece, between the edges and the applique piece. A small dab with an Elmer's school glue stick can also be used to do this.

Tartan

Congratulations on finding yours for $15, I paid $25 for mine and I was glad to get it. I use mine for transferring Red work patterns onto fabric. You put the paper pattern (as Alexandra said) on the light box, lay your fabric square on top of the paper and use a fabric pen/pencil to mark the lines. I use my Frixion pen for Red Work since I will be embroidering over it. If you were going to do something else you might want to use a water solvable pen/pencil that you could remove.

BellaBoo

I love the Crayola Tracing Pad. It has LED lights. It's super lightweight too. I paid $19.99 for mine so you got a good deal. My guild members went ga ga over it and Walmart was cleaned out of them in a day. LOL

Tartan

That is so funny Bellaboo! I can see some Crayola executive scratching his/her head and wondering why sales have taken off. I know I ran out and got mine after you posted about yours.

LyndaOH

I got mine at Meijer last week - all Crayola sets were on sale for $10! They only had the Cars version, but I don't mind!

Jerseyrayne

I just came from my local Wal Mart and I got the Crayola Light-Up Tracing Pad for $10.00 in the Xmas Toy Clearance. Its the super slim design and is blue and silver. It takes 3 AA batteries.
It works great, and is nice and slim will fit almost anywhere. Great buy, if you do applique this is alot better than trying to hold it all against a window pane, which is how I did my applique before.