pounce pad and chalk
 

Is $35 a lot to pay for the pad and 2 ounces of chalk powder ?
I can't find this in my area of Canada and this is the Amazon price for the package (includes taxes and customs duties).
Is there another place where I could order it and not pay so much?
It is an iron-off type...does that work well?
Is there a substitute I can use instead of the powder?
I am doing a circular pattern and using a stencil. I traced the pattern and needle-punched holes at intervals. I used the disappearing blue pencil to mark dots.I am doing it on scrappy fabrics and the
blue pencil doesn't show up enough on the darker fabrics. The purple pencil disappears too soon.
Thanks.

Have you tried school chalk? I sometimes use that for marking, you know the kind kids use on a blackboard, brushes off easily.

Yes, I do. I want some powdered kind. I pin the stencil to the top and I could shake the powder onto the stencil and then remove stencil when finished. The powder would fill in the punched holes.
Suppose I could shave up some of the chalk sticks but, even the thought of that is giving me cold shivers.
Should try to con one of the family into doing it!!!

How about using talc powder

It sounds like you are working on dark fabrics. Are you quilting on a long arm, DSM or hand? I would try a few sample blocks and see what will last from a powder stand point, flour, corn starch may give it a try to see what will wash off afterwards.

If you are in Canada, Hamels fabric in Chilliwack BC has online shopping. I purchased my pounce from them. I hope it's ok to put a link here for you. http://store.hamelsfabrics.com/store...360&page_id=17

Just sent you a PM.

In the multiple threads for "what have you wasted good money on" the pounce system is pretty high on the list :) Just saying.

I have a pink and white ones of these, the pink shows up on light fabrics, the white on darks
http://www.amazon.com/Clover-469-Y-C...r+chalk+marker. there is a fine spoked wheel for writing with.

Right now I'm using a sewline chalk pen like this
http://www.sewline-product.com/Sewline_Fabric_Pencil
for marking fussy cuts for english paper piecing, and it is Marvelous. I bought a mix color of leads but so far pink has showed up on everything. And the lead doesn't break off and makes a fairly fine line.

Somewhere on the board today someone showed a photo of a box of tailors chalk, also dirt cheap compared to the pouncer.

I tried using it for my long arm, but the speed of machine makes chalk bounce off. I end up pouncing chalk on stencil then tracing with washout blue marker. I ask their sales rep at a quilt show and he told me to swipe the pouncer twice over the stencil then use cheap hairspray over design! I think that would gum up my needles plus fix the chalk where it would not brush off. I feel it was waste of money!

Thank you. I will check it out.