Aubree's Dressmaking Notebook

Tracing Wheel

Transferring pattern markings with a tracing wheel and dressmaker's carbon - serrated, needle-point and smooth wheels, which carbon to use, the right way to set up the layers, and alternatives for delicate fabrics.

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A serrated tracing wheel rolled along a clear ruler over blue dressmaker's carbon, leaving a dotted line on the fabric.

A tracing wheel is a handle with a small toothed or smooth wheel at the end. Rolled along a line on a pattern with dressmaker's carbon (tracing paper) underneath, it presses a line of dots or a solid line onto the fabric below. It's the quickest way to transfer darts, pleats, pocket positions, buttonholes and seamlines accurately, and it marks both halves of a garment at once.

Types of wheel

  • Serrated (blunt-toothed) wheel: small, blunt points that leave a dotted line. The general-purpose wheel. It marks clearly through carbon on most fabrics without piercing them.
  • Needle-point (sharp spiked) wheel: long, sharp points. It goes through heavy fabrics, several layers of paper, or thick pattern card, and is used in pattern drafting to copy lines from one sheet of paper to another without carbon, by pricking through. It can damage fine fabric.
  • Smooth-edged wheel: a smooth disc that leaves a continuous line. Gentle on delicate fabrics and used with wax-free transfer paper.
  • Double tracing wheel: two wheels side by side at an adjustable distance. It traces the seamline and adds a seam allowance in one pass, which is handy for patterns that don't include seam allowances.

Dressmaker's carbon

Use tracing paper made for fabric, not office carbon paper, which doesn't wash out. Two kinds:

  • Waxed carbon gives a strong, clear line but can be hard or impossible to remove, especially with heat. Pressing over wax marks can set them permanently. Use it on the wrong side of fabrics where marks won't show.
  • Wax-free (chalk-based) carbon is designed to wash out or brush off. It's the safer choice for most dressmaking.

Choose a colour close to the fabric that you can still see: white or yellow on dark fabrics, light blue or pink on light ones. Avoid dark carbon on light or sheer fabrics.

Always test first on a scrap of the actual fabric: trace, press it, and then wash or brush it to check the mark comes out.

Setting up the layers

Pattern markings usually go on the wrong side of the fabric, after cutting:

  1. Leave the pattern pinned to the cut pieces, which are normally cut double, right sides together. The wrong sides then face outward, top and bottom.
  2. Slide one sheet of carbon, coloured side up, under the bottom layer of fabric, against its wrong side.
  3. Slide another sheet, coloured side down, between the pattern and the top layer of fabric, against its wrong side.
  4. Trace the lines with the wheel, using a ruler for straight lines. Press firmly enough to mark both layers.
  5. Mark the end of darts and other important points with a short line across, so they're unmistakable.

Work on a hard, smooth surface. A cutting mat or a piece of thick card protects the table from the wheel's points.

What to trace

Trace stitching lines for darts, tucks and pleats; placement lines for pockets, buttonholes and trims; fold lines; centre front and back if they aren't on a fold; and, for fitting, the bust, waist and hip lines. Mark seamlines only when precision matters, such as on curved seams and collars, or when the pattern has no seam allowance.

When not to use a tracing wheel

On some fabrics, carbon either won't show or won't come out:

  • Sheers, silks and pale fabrics can show carbon through, or stain. Use tailor's tacks (loose loops of thread through both layers, cut apart), thread tracing (lines of hand basting), or a water-soluble marker tested on a scrap.
  • Napped, textured and loose fabrics such as velvet, boucle and tweed don't take a clear line. Use tailor's tacks or chalk.
  • Single points, such as a dart point or a bust point, are often quicker with an awl through the pattern, or a pin and chalk.

Other marking tools

  • Tailor's chalk (clay or wax) and chalk wheels for quick lines. Clay chalk brushes out, wax chalk melts away with an iron on wool.
  • Water-soluble pens (usually blue) wash out with water. Air-erasable pens (usually purple) fade within hours to days. Heat can make either permanent, so don't press over the marks.
  • Heat-erasable pens disappear under the iron but can reappear in the cold, and may leave a ghost on some fabrics. Test before relying on them.
  • Snips in the seam allowance for notches and the ends of darts (see Notch).