they are the same F&P, Sewline, Bolin, Collins However, i never recommend colored leads because too often they don't come out of the fabric - only white and perhaps the graphite color. I suspect they are all made in the same Factory in France.

I have a Sewline. But I took a applique class with Ami Simms and she gave us an inexpensive Bic Pencil and it had the Sewline pencil lead in it, so save yourself the money of the pen and just stock up on lead for it. The pencil will say 0.9 mm on it and that is the same size as the lead from Sewline and Bohn, not sure about F&P. I really like them, haven't had trouble with markings not coming out.

The F & P leads I have are 0.7mm. I bought a generic pen for the leads also.

I have the Bohin as well and use it with the white leads. Otherwise still just use a regular old mechanical pencil and have never had issues with either washing out.

I have used the ceramic lead in regular mechanical pencils. The only difference I have found is that the Brand pencil holder has a short "sleeve" around the tip of the lead which gives it a bit more strength. I didn't try and find a pencil holder like the "brand" but am sure it is out there. It took me a bit of time to find the right mm tho. But in a class we used the substitute successfully.

No wonder all their emails now are pushing F&P everything. Ahah.

I have both F&P and Bohin. I like them both equally. My LQS sells several colors of refills. Haven't had any problems with either one.

I am sad to hear that F & P has bought Keepsake Quilting. I have been disappointed with F & P quality so would now hesitate to continue patronizing Keepsake, where I used to want to live someday!

I have the F&Porter Mechanical Pencil and loved using the white to mark a quilt. Only problem was refilling -- it took me forever each time as the lead would not stay down--every time I would press on it to mark, it would retract. Finally the lead would never stay down so I gave up and bought another. I wrote F&P about the problem but never received a response. Keep meaning to take it back to Joann's to see if they would replace it without a receipt. Other than that I loved it. It didn't leave any residual marks on the quilt but I only marked one days worth at a time.

Why would that have any effect on the quality of goods at Keepsake? Their fabrics are all name brands, they put together their own kits using those name brand fabrics, their sales people and website people are some of the very best in the business, and other than possibly limiting the choices in notions, I don't see why you suddenly won't shop there. I never buy F&P and I don't plan to start, but I'm certainly not going to stop my frequent visits to Keepsake Quilting unless/until they give me a concrete reason to do so. They're innocent until proven guilty in my book. :)