"Redwork" Embroidery Blocks

They come in several "widths". My fine tips would easily be covered with 3 strands of floss, I think??? If they don't work for that, you could always find another use for them.... or donate them to a Sunday school or write grocery lists with them or color the daily newspaper comic strips to look the the Sunday funnies???

Leslie & The Furbabies > Just how fine are those children's markers, Leslie?

Howdy!

Pat, I use the wash-out blue marking pens, have had no problem with it washing out or with the DMC floss bleeding. YMMV Good luck! Green is good!

R/Sandy

Yes, some of the transfer pens/pencils are permanent-- if you think for a minute they do transfer with heat, which tends to set inks, etc. Some of the transfer papers are pretty good about washing out though. I usually use a mechanical pencil to mark my embroidery lines. I can usually cover the lines with thread. There are some other pencils used for marking that might work too. I have a silver one, mechanical, that is pretty good about washing out. (Got it at a quilt shop--I think it is a Clover brand.)

Pati, > Thanks Roberta. This was mentioned by another poster too. I think I have

My mother did a lot of redwork style embroidery, except that she used multiple colors on each piece -- one color for the little animal, green for the grass, different colors for the flowers, etc. She used the red transfer pencil to trace a design on paper and then iron it on the fabric. It always washed out. The transfer could be used several times; when it started to fade, she would just retrace it.

Julia > Thanks Roberta. This was mentioned by another poster too. I think I have

I usually use red thread for "redwork", but my current project is using black and pink. Most "redwork" was done using just one colour at a time, otherwise it was just called embroidery.

You could use ultra fine water soluble fabric markers. Just like you might trace out a quilting pattern for hand quilting. The air erase ones would disappear too quickly, so make sure it's a water erase.

BTW Horticultural pics done in green will look really nice. Great project idea. Debra in VA See my quilts at

Redwork and Blackwork can be done in any color.

Blackwork came to be known by that name when a queen (forgot which one) made it trendy to only use black thread--prior to that it was done in many colors, and nowadays people have gone back to using many colors. Debra in VA See my quilts at

I forgot one other method--soap. A sliver of soap can mark fabric and it always washes out later. Debra in VA See my quilts at