What's your favorite marking pen?

[HomespunMary]

Well, girls, I've been trying to be just as scientific as calicopuzzle was yesterday (with her feed dogs)...

I've tried out four different marking pens, for marking quilting designs on my quilt sandwich. And, I've found my absolute favourite so far: the Clover White Marking Pen that disappears when ironing over it! This pen was great!

The competition was:

- One cheap chalk-type white marking pencil. Not so bad, but very difficult to use on the quilt sandwich. I had to press hard to make the marks show, and that seemed to slightly distort the fabric. Also, it did not come off very easily.

- Clover Water Soluble Marker, supposed to disappear when sprayed with water. Well, the marks did go away when I sprayed water on them, but when the fabric dried the marks came back! I certainly hope they'll go away when I wash the quilt!

- Clover Chacopen Pink with eraser (Air erasable), that supposedly disappears on its own after a few days. Well, on some fabrics, this worked great, but on other fabrics the marks disappeared not after 2-10 days (as stated by Clover) but after just a few minutes, not even allowing time to go get a cup of coffee between marking and sewing!

Compared to these, the Clover White Marking Pen had no disadvantages at all that I could notice.

What are your favorites?

[zfatcat]

Thanks for the info. You should send this as an article to a magazine. Some magazines will pay you if they print your article.
And you know what that means....$'s = fabric. lol

[HomespunMary]

zfatcat, I certainly wouldn't mind some $$$ that I could "trade" for fabric, but I seriously doubt my experiment was scientific enough...

And, I assume there are many more types of marking pens in the US. I just used the meagre selection I could find around here...

[gmaann]

Thank you! I copied and pasted to a Word document and printed it out to keep. I really appreciate the info - and I have done the same with other comments the forum members have made! It really helps.

[qltsbme]

I agree about the Clover white marker - it's the best.

If you spritz it with water that has a bit of baking soda in it, the marks may come out better for you. In any case, it should come out when you wash it.

Air soluable marks will disappear very quickly in the summer. The humidity in the air makes them disipate.

Remember, with air or water soluable marks, make sure you have them out completely before you apply any heat to them. Heat will set the mark.

[HomespunMary]

qltsbme, I'm so glad you said the thing about not applying heat to the water soluble pen marks!

I was just on my way to my ironing board to see if the marks from the water soluble marker would go away with hot steam... You just saved me from permanently setting blue marks on my solid red fabric!!! I owe you!

[SewGlad]

On the water soluable try wetting again, and then rub it in a little. Hopefully that will work.

How are things going in Sweden. It isn't as hot, but the heat is coming back soon.

Have a good day.

Ruthie

[qltsbme]

Homespunmary, I am so glad you caught that before pressing! The marks should come out when you wash it. Also, don't keep the quilt in a hot car - that can set the marks, as well.

[HomespunMary]

SewGlad and qltsbme, thanks so much for the advice. After spraying it with water three times, and letting it dry in between, almost all the blue marks are gone now... Only a couple of small dots still in there.

And, no risk of me keeping the quilt in a hot car! We don't seem to get any heat at all this summer, only lots and lots of rain (which would also explain the very fast disappearing of the air soluble - the humidity from weeks of constant rain!). So, SewGlad, that's pretty much how things are going in Sweden right now. I'm trying to get back to work this week, after a few weeks of vacation, but I'm so mentally caught up in my quilting right now that I find it really hard to concentrate on anything else but my fabric and all the nice variegated threads I am trying out for the first time right now...

[sewbug]

I bought a big fat red pen that holds chalk. I forgot the name of it. I also bought the different color chalk refills for it. I love it. The chalk sharpenes to a fine point using a school hand sharpener and the pen keeps it safe inside when not using. I'll try to find the name.

Well that was easy for Google to find! It's Allary Chalk Cartridge Sets. http://www.quilterswarehouse.com/itemde ... sp?ic=416A