I've lost count of the times I've needed to go to the copy shop to print on heavyweight cardstock for my English Paper Piecing templates.  Most times I just don't want to deal with taking my son in with me.  It's not always a fun experience (him wanting to touch everything and scream at people and all).  Of course, this means that my EPP projects often get stalled simply for a lack of toner on paper.  Well, I finally figured a way out of having to go to the copy store at all.  Plus, for me at least, doing it at home takes the cost from $1 per page to about 25 cents.

The simple tutorial I have for you today is all about how to use a colorless blender pen to transfer a printout from any black-and-white laser-printed image to your choice of paper.  Here's what you'll need:

 - Colorless blender pen (Chartpak makes a really nice one)
 - Cardstock or other paper in the weight you prefer (non-glossy is best)
 - Burnishing tool (such as a bone folder or wood spreading knife)
 - Laser-printed page(s) with your chosen design (each page can only be used once, so you will need one printout for each image-transferred page)

Instructions:
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Gather your materials.  You can save on paper costs by getting it when it's on sale and stocking up for future projects.  You probably have a burnishing tool around your house.  A spoon or wood knife work fine.  You can find a blender pen at almost any fine art supply store or online.  For your laser-printed image, any will do.  I often have my husband print at work, and the library is my backup option.

Place your chosen paper on your work surface.  Put your printout right side down on top of the paper, aligning all the edges.

If you have a little wiggle room in your printout margins, scoot the printout down 1/4" to 1/2" and tape the pages to each other and to your work surface to stabilize the pages and prevent a misaligned transfer.

Open a window.  Seriously, open it.  All the way.  If you don't have a window to open, go outside to do your transfer.  Ventilation is key with the transfer pen.

​Use your pen to draw over the printed lines on your printout.  The liquid dries pretty quickly, so work in smaller sections if you have a large design to transfer.

Use your burnishing tool to rub over all the lines you drew over with the blender pen.  Continue drawing over and rubbing the lines until you have completed the page.

Carefully lift the printout to check that all the lines have transferred.  If the original copy had thick or very dark lines, it may cause the pages to stick together.  If this happens, peel slowly to avoid tearing.  Don't worry too much about little gaps or splotchy areas.  If the transfer is really splotchy, though, try printing with less toner by lightening the print setting.

If you are using your image transfer for English Paper Piecing, your paper is now ready to cut out the templates.  The transferred image should be permanent, but, just to be safe, put the black lines towards the back of your basted shape (the seam allowance side) to prevent any from rubbing off where it can be seen.

I hope this technique is as useful for you as it has been for me.  Several of my EPP projects have moved forward now and I can't wait to show you what they are.

I'm in the middle of making my third English Paper Piecing pattern (the first one is still being written, but you can see it here, and the second one is currently for sale in my Etsy shop).  Every time I work on a new design, I learn something or realize I've been doing a technique differently that others may find helpful to learn as well.  Here is a roundup of techniques all related to troubleshooting or polishing the look of your finished piece.  When you have a problem (big or small), it can often be traced to one of these seemingly minor fixes.  If you need help with basic stitching techniques, you can see Part I of my EPP Tips.
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Tighten loosely-wrapped fabric.  Sometimes, after basting, you might find that the fabric is too loose on the paper piece.  There a couple things you can do about this.  First, make sure to finger press as you baste and tack the fabric to the paper piece.  Second, make sure each of the folded sides of the fabric is flush against the edge of the paper piece before basting or tacking that side.  Third, after basting, use the tip of a hot iron to nudge the fabric from the edge to the center to tighten it up as you press.  You can also use a fingernail to gently pull the seam allowance towards the center of the paper piece to tighten it as you iron (just be careful not to burn yourself).

Hide the knot in the seam allowance.  When I first started out with English Paper Piecing, I didn't pay any attention to knot placement...until my working thread got caught on it over and over while sewing.  Then, while watching a video on EPP, I heard about hiding the knot in the seam allowance.  I started doing it, but I hid the knot in the seam allowance of the piece closest to me.  It worked fine, but it threw off the look of the whipstitch because I had to do a bit of crisscrossing to make sure the corners were securely stitched together.  Then, one day, I realized that the better way would be to hide the knot in the seam allowance of the piece farther from me in order to maintain the rhythm and appearance of the stitch.  So I changed my method and my sewing became faster and easier.

Fold paper pieces accurately.  With some EPP patterns, you will have to fold the paper pieces in order to sew sides together.  When I first started with EPP, I folded without thinking about how I did it.  What I soon found was that I had to exert extra force with my fingertips in order to keep the alignment of the sides I was sewing.  This tired out my fingers faster.  I found that folding the paper pieces in a line that corresponds to the sides you are sewing makes them much easier to sew.  You can see in the image at the right that the fold creates a straight line that follows from the sides being stitched.