How to create your own light box

I love a good sewing hack! Don’t get me wrong, I do love all the perfect equipment too but that isn’t always possible for lots of reasons (budget, storage space, availability etc) so sometimes you need to improvise.

Light boxes and light pads have lots of use in sewing and quilting including;

drawing embroidery designs onto your fabric
foundation paper piecing
fussy/focus cutting
sticking printed PDF clothing patterns together

But light boxes and pads can be expensive (I have a cheap one which works fine but is a little bit small and flimsy!) so if you aren’t going to use one all the time it might not be worth the investment. And, like I said, they are super useful so here’s a quick and easy hack to make your own temporary light box at home, this style is perfect for drawing embroidery designs onto your fabric…

What do I need?

printed or drawn embroidery design (on paper)
washi tape
a window
fabric pen

What do I do?

Using the washi tape, tape the embroidery design to the window (make sure it’s in a place that you can easily reach and stand/sit in front of)
Now tape your piece of fabric on top. Make sure the fabric is nice and taught (but not so tight that it distorts etc). The light shining through the window should mean you can see the embroidery design through your fabric.
Trace the design onto your fabric.
Once you’ve done all the tracing, carefully remove the tape and fabric from the window and start your sewing project!

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