It generally fades after one washing, IME. Are you talking about patterns like Aunt Martha's or heat tranfer pens/pencils?

Molly~

Thanks for your response, Molly.

I am talking about Aunt Martha's hot iron transfers and have found out last night that nothing that I have used works. I put the project through bleach, denatured alcohol and oxy clean to no avail. Unfortunately, I have given up on it and have sucked it up as a learning experience!

Have you used transfer pens/pencils before and if so, how do they work?

I have the same problem. After purchasing some pillow cases to embroider on ebay. Have you discovered anything to remove the ink?? I tried the Oxyclean too but to no avail. Someone said nail polish remover. Have you ever tried that? I haven't as yet. Let me know.

I've tried every solvent and chemical in my house and nothing worked. So, I contacted Colonial Patterns where I buy my patterns. Here is their reply:
Dear Deborah-------Transfer ink does not wash out of all fabrics
especially polycotton materials. Most of the time it will wash out of
100% cotton fabric, but sometimes individuals transfer too much ink to
the material to have it wash out. There is one secret about transfer
ink that most people don't know about and that is that it hates direct
sunlight. For some reason, direct rays of sun will cause transfer ink
to fade away. If you can not cover up your transfer lines with wider
embroidery stitches, we suggest that you try exposing the lines to
sunlight.
Thanking you very much for the opportunity to help you, we remain,
Sincerely yours, Bud Price, Colonial Patterns, Inc.

Glad to hear that. I'll be taking bunches of things out in the sun this summer so my transfer lines will fade! :o)

I have another little find on removing the transfer ink from the hot iron transfers like Aunt Marthas. I found that if you iron it before sewing it the pattern will start to fade immediately. I just lost a flower by accident so I know this works. So, before washing it, just iron it good and watch the lines disappear.

How about the transfer pencils? Are they completely unremovable also? Does anyone out there have any suggestions on what can be used to make a homemade 'hot iron transfer' pattern for an embroidery project that CAN be washed out?

Someone once suggested getting some SULKY water soluble stabilizer that can be run through the printer, print the design on it (if you can get the design scanned into the computer), then place the water soluble sheet on top of the material you want to embroider on, do the embroidering and then wash the stabilizer away. But - where does the ink on the stabilizer go? Would it (floating in the wash water) make what you embroidered on grayish, if you embroidered on a piece of white cotton?

I, too, am having a fit trying to remove transfer lines! I used a little boy football player transfer on one pillowcase before realizing that they had a PONY TAIL hanging out of the back of his helmet!! I cut the lines out before doing the other pillowcase, but now the lines won't come out. I've used everything I can think of. I know that many football players have long hair now and it hangs out of their helmets (RIDICULOUS!) ... but I don't want my 4 year old grandson to have it! I can't think of any way to camoflage it with stitching either!! HELP!