If you browse for embroidery kits and patterns they fall into two groups, those that you trace onto fabric yourself or those where the pattern is printed directly onto fabric. But which is best?

At Embellished Elephant I offer some kits where the pattern is traced and some kits where the design is pre-printed onto fabric, this is because some designs are more suited to one method or another.

The advantages of tracing an embroidery pattern yourself is that you can customise the pattern as you trace, adding or changing elements. But it does take a bit of time to trace, especially more complex patterns. It can also be tricky to trace the design exactly as it is shown in the pattern, especially in any small or thin elements. But there are techniques that can be used to combat these issues. For many designs I prefer the flexibility that tracing an embroidery pattern gives.

For pre-printed embroidery designs there are two main types, those that have just line drawings and those which are full colour designs. 

With those that are just line drawings these leave very little scope for changing or adapting the design. In some of these designs the lines you are to stitch over can be quite dark and/or thick meaning that they still show through even when you have stitched over them. These line drawing styles of pre-printed designs are also not very forgiving if you are a beginner and your stitching is not perfectly accurate.

If I am using (or creating) a pre-printed design, my preference is for full colour designs. This approach means you don’t have to follow specific lines and the colour can mask any gaps in stitching which a dark line or white background can show through. These types of pre-printed designs allow more freedom to change the stitches, colours or which areas you stitch on.

This is why for the designs I select to pre-print on fabric I chose designs with full colour backgrounds rather than simple line drawings.

In terms of whether it is better to trace or use pre-printed embroidery patterns, it really does depend on the design and personal preference. If you’ve only ever used one method why not give the other a go. 

For pre-printed patterns my floral sampler and Lisbon tiles use this approach. 

For patterns to trace, any of my floral embroidery kits are nice and simple patterns to practice your tracing skills.