Question about pens for hand embroidery marking..... help please.
 

I bought a pattern called Aunt Bea's Parlor which is a hand embroidered quilt that I saw here on the QB and fell in love with. The pattern was $15, which is steep to me. Then when I opened it up, you are supposed to trace it with a macron pen onto your fabric. What's up? I googled macron pens and they say they are permanent ink. The pattern says use black. I don't mean to be disrespectful, but will this really work??!! Will my thread cover all black marks? I am an excellent embroiderer but this makes me a bit nervous. I don't want ANY black showing and would actually prefer that all of the ink washed out. Any other ideas? I wanted to take a few blocks with me on vacation next week- so am hoping for an answer soon from someone who knows. Thanks!

Funny I should be snooping on this thread. I am currently working on some blocks that I used the clover marking pens that you mark on fabric with and they still washed out when I put water to them to see if I should finish them. This is what I would use or there is one out by Zip that works nicely as well I use on my quilt marking. This is what I do. there is not reason you can't and I am with you, just in case I don't hit the line perfectly this takes away the scare of it showing.

Oooohh thanks! I'll go check out clover tomorrow. I couldn't stand to see black peeking out from underneath.

I'm with you .......I love frixion pens!

I use the washable graphite pencils from Fons Porter.

many times micron pens are stated as supplies to use for embroidery because you can get a fine tip pen- they do not bleed (fuzz around the edges) and it is (assumed) your embroidery thread will cover them. if you would prefer a marking tool which will wash out there are tons to choose from- i love the fine tip marking pencils with the ceramic leads- fons & porter, dritz & sew line all have ones out- the leads are fine -thin, i've found them in pink, green, white & lead colors- and they wash out- or are erasable. i tend to stick to pencils or chalk for most of my marking-regardless of whether it's for embroidery, quilting or tracing appliques- i've just had the best luck with pencils-
i've over the years spent money on this (disappearing ink) marker - or that one- generally they seem like a waste of money-to me- they either dry out long before i think i've got my fair share of marking out of them- or they don't come out as well as i thought they would- so i don't tend to spend money on markers if i want the marks to come out.

Thanks for this info. I recently bought a pattern and was wondering the same thing!

Me, too! I've been told that after the friction marks are ironed out, then washed, that they won't come back. The freezer thing is funny!

I love and use the frixion pens. They iron right out on cotton when you are done embroidering. I did use one on knit pants and when I ironed, a white line was left. A friend suggested to me to wash them. I did, and the white line washed out. I learned to test the frixion pens on new types of fabric.

I use the micron pens to trace my hand embroidery patterns. Lead pencil smudge, air erasable don't last long enough, and chalk is messy. I have used silk, different linens, cotton, etc fabrics. The pens are permanent but you can get different colors, like red or black, etc. A lot of hand embroidering, like stump work, may take a good while to do, so a permanent pen is a good thing with all the handling of the fabric while embroidering. The thing about the micron pens is that the tracing line is very fine and your tracings have to be accurately done. However, you need to find what works for you...

Actually if you wash it after you iron the marks do not come back in the freezer if you don't want them to come back

I guess I'm the most frugal here--I go to DOLLARTREE store and get the pkg of 20 washable markers-fineline, for $1, and I've been using them for drawing quilt designs on the backings for FMQ. 20 colors from blk to yellow..I love them. Of course, I'd test on fabric that is not cotton, but they work on poly/cotton--I just toss in the washer afterwards. They are found in the children's crafts/school supplies.

I use the micron pen, the really fine tip one and I use the brown ink. I have never had a problem with the ink line showing.

I too use the Frixion pen. If I make a mistake I can just iron away the mistake and redo. Once washed it never comes back!!!

Thank you. I will give it a try.

Thanks for all of the input. I went to Staple's today and found a 3 pack of Frixion pens for $5. There's red, black & blue. I'm really looking forward to giving them a try.

I have done tons of redwork and bluework, etc. I use the permanent pens with the finest point I can find and a light hand. I also use red for redwork or tan for other colors. I find black or dark colors too stark and likely to show.

I totally agree with sweetana3, I like to use a like color to the thread color, that way it might not show if my stitching is not right on.

Have been reading a lot about the friction pens. Good to know that they iron and wash out. As for freezing temps and the lines coming back, I'm in Texas so I guess I'm good to go there. Excited to give these a try!

I made this quilt and used a brown macron fine tipped pen to mark all the lines. It might take two since it is a lot of marking. The embroidery completely covers the marks. I thought black was too dark. I use the red macron for redwork and it blends right in.

I enjoyed the pattern so much, I just bought a different one from the same designer while on vacation.

I use the frixxion pens all the time, but need to find one that I can use on dark fabrics....a white one would be wonderful!

I use pigma pens fo mark my "redwork". The red embroidery thread covered it completely and no one knows it is there. I am doing a blue one next and will use a blue pigma pen for the same reason. Hope this helps.