Originally Posted by nan
Hi, you would surely have some insights to help me. I wonder how you hand sew the top quilt to bottom using a template design. The material of the quilt is mostly black and gold. I chose black felt for back. It is my first and the size is 16 x 16 only. Just want to see what I can do. What do you use to see the design? I've used purple disappearing marker but that I can't really even see. Thank you in advance.
I found these answers in another place, but to keep it accurate, I'll just copy/paste. Each are very good.
Clover now makes a White Marking Pen that erases with water or ironing. It won't rub off. They are not cheap, $6-7, but it works great, easy to see on dark fabrics. When you use it, it takes a few seconds to "show up" and it is a nice thin line.
I just marked a feather vine on a dark blue border for hand quilting (4 borders of a bed-size quilt), and it didn't run out until almost the end. The barrel is clear so you can see how much ink you have left. Keep it capped so it doesn't dry out. A lot of my friends use it for hand applique, to mark the seam allowance, so I imagine it would work well for hand piecing. Just remember not to iron it or wet it until you are finished stitching.
That said, I have white pencils, silver pencils, no leads break. The white is marked "General's pastel chalk", the silver is marked "Sanford verithin". Both use regular pencil sharpeners.
I have used the "White Marking Pen CLOVER" and it is as BlueBars says. The ink takes a minute to dry, but then can be seen as a fine, opaque line that doesn't rub off easily. It washes out easily with cold water. The ball point means that the line can be drawn with great accuracy. I think this is a gel pen. This makes me wonder if a glittery gel pen might be even more visible on black fabric, but I'm not sure how well it would wash out. Sounds like I'm gonna hafta run another test! ;-P
Another thing I like: At Joann Fabrics, they have a set of chalks, in assorted colors, with a plastic holder. The chalks can be sharpened separately from the holder, which means less breakage and a finer point. I sometimes use emery boards (nail files) to sand the point, for an even finer line. This rubs off relatively easily, so is of limited use.
I have not tried any silver pencils yet. I read that a particular brand of silver pencil is very good. I wish I could remember which brand it was. I think it was Aquarelle. It was an artist pencil, at any rate. It might be available singly at Joann's, in the section with the watercolors and paintbrushes. I'm going to put that on my shopping list, as I have been meaning to try it one of these days.
I ran a search to try to find the name of the silver pencil, and this might be helpful, (if you enlarge the font!)
Marking Pencils
It seems that more than one brand might work just fine.
If it is straight lines...I use painters tape ..comes off easily and leaves no marks. If it isn't straight lines...I use a very thin point chalk pencil which I found at our local fabric store here in Winnipeg, Man. I'm sure you could find them in the States as well....
Now these answers should all work on black fabric.
If you need something for other color fabric's, I found a pen set (black, blue, red) you buy at an office supply store like Staples/Office Depot, it's "Frixion" by Ball/Pilot pens.
When you iron over the ink, it completely disappears, better than the above mentioned 'quilt' markers. But, I haven't seen it in a light color that would work on black fabric yet. Hope these ideas will help.