Fashion Geeks Only: Thread Tracing How-To

I have accomplished much on the jacket today. All pieces that can be assembled before I press any seams are done, so my next step will be to have a press conference with my iron. Once you do all that pattern cutting, sewing on stabilizer, and tracing markings, you really start flying. Phew.

In my last post, someone asked about how I did thread tracing so I thought I would do a pictoral tutorial. I really despise all the tedious markings you have to transfer from your pattern pieces, and I never get the pieces sewn before the dissapearing ink evaporates or I brush away all the chalk. So I usually use a sharpie, I have a rainbow of options, yet there are still times when it can decimate the professional look of your work. I happened upon a class on iTunesU about how to do markings with thread while sewing a jacket and picked up this neato trick, which was just in time as I started my jacket the next day and it is a rainbow of colors. I chose to use a rubber duck yellow so I could see my thread!


Here is a daunting looking pattern peice, cut out in double, ready to be marked!

line the pieces up as perfectly as possible, and pin or weigh the stack down ( I use some heavy old shower hooks, they are the best pattern weights ever!)




Insert your needle through the pattern marking, through all layers. Use a contrasting thread so you can see your markings.






bring the needle back up through and down again, making a loop.

put your finger in the loop to keep the slack and bring the thread back up through one more time. If you are going through four layers, make sure to make the loop even bigger to give yourself more slack to work with.

trim the thread length longer than the loop length.

Pull the pattern pieces taut. (in this photo, there are two pattern markings showing. It is easiest to do all your markings on the piece at once, then cut them apart, for marking consistency with the pattern spacing.)
Snip the thread between layers, leaving enough slack on both sides of fabric that it won't pull through when you are moving your pattern pieces. No need to go crazy, you don't need a tail, just enough to see, a quarter inch aughta do it.)

See the final markings below. Note that the bottom layer will have just a stitch of thread showing, unless you want to pull more slack through to make it furry like the rest!