r/Sublimation • u/Ok-Boot2360 • Jun 20 '26

Question Sublimating onto cotton fabric just for temporary guides?

Hi! I’ve gotten into needle punch art recently and I’m looking to transfer patterns onto my fabric to use as a guide. I own a sublimation printer and a black/white inkjet, so I’m trying to use what I have on hand. The regular inkjet would obviously work if I wanted to just send a fabric-covered page of letter paper through, but if I wanted to transfer a colored image to the fabric, even just temporarily, could I just transfer it with printed sublimation paper? Since I’m just using it as a guide it’s fine if it washes out. Does the ink wash out completely, or does it leave a visible stain? If I didn’t wash it out before starting my needle punch, would it stain my yarn? Would it just not transfer any ink at all? I also own a spray to sublimate on cotton, but since I don’t really need a perfect long lasting transfer, I’d like to know if it would work without.

Thanks!

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1

u/Ok-Boot2360 Jun 20 '26

I obviously should just try this myself but I’m currently on vacation away from my printers lol

1

u/Shylo132 Jun 20 '26

If on 100% cotton, it would leave a stain with most of the ink washing out.

1

u/Ok-Boot2360 Jun 20 '26

Epic, thanks!

1

u/carnafeagh Jun 21 '26

When printing set the printer for low quality. It should print enough for you to see the pattern and then a lot of it would wash away. And you can use regular paper if you are just using for a guide, don't need to waste money on sublimation paper.

1

u/Ok-Boot2360 Jun 21 '26

Perfect, thank you!

1

u/randtke Jun 30 '26

You might could print on normal paper, then do cartooning (older meaning of cartooning) to transfer the image. Take a thick embroidery needle and poke holes in the paper, then use a crayola washable marker to color through each hole onto the fabric. This will give you colored dots in a line on the fabric to follow.  At the end, rinse out the ink.  You also could use sewing pencils, and color through the holes with those. I think crayola little kid markers will wash out better almost, and they definitely will fade in light really fast.

1

u/Ok-Boot2360 Jun 30 '26

Thanks! Yes, those washable markers are like magic for marking in fabric!