A few weeks ago I was invited by Flamingo Fabrics to try out the new thermoadhesive tracing paper. I have always been a fan of using freezer paper for my pattern pieces, as you can iron it on and peel it off, reusing it many times, however it’s very narrow and so for larger pattern pieces it’s very restrictive. When I found out that this paper is 91cm wide and can be bought by the metre I was really excited to try it. At £2 a metre it’s certainly not going to break the bank, especially when a roll of freezer paper can be approx £7. It works in the exact same way as freezer paper, having one side with glue strips on that goes onto the fabric, you then iron on the top to warm the glue and attach it to the fabric. You can then peel off the paper and reuse it several times.
Another added bonus of this paper is that you can print directly onto it, saving extra time which is definitely a plus for me! To use it this way it’s available in A4 sheets as a pack of 12 (for a cost of £2). As I print most of my patterns now from PDFs I think this would be a really good option. However to begin with I decided to just try out tracing a pattern. I used it to trace one of my favourite Patterns for Pirates pattern, to see how it was using larger pattern pieces. It was really easy to see through to trace and in no time I had all my pattern pieces cut out.
The next step was to iron the pieces onto my fabric. I thought this could be tricky with the pieces being so big and my ironing board is so small, however it was straightforward. I think next time however I’d be tempted to use the top of my table, with a protective cloth underneath, just to make it even easier.
Cutting out the pieces was so straight forward as the pattern piece was very well attached to the fabric and didn’t move about, so much easier than faffing around with pins! Taking off the paper was easy too, it peels away leaving no mark on the fabric. I realised that when I came to peel the first piece off, I probably didn’t need to ‘iron’ it on quite as much as I did, alls it needs is a quick iron over and it sticks well. The second piece was much easier to peel away. I have since made another dress, reusing the pattern pieces and ironing them onto different fabric, another bonus!
I loved working with this paper and I have definitely been converted to using this rather than my usual go to freezer paper!
You can buy the paper from Flamingo Fabrics from the haberdashery section on their website.
Sarah x
* I received a sample of this paper for review purposes. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.*
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