I use bar soap slivers for marking lines, and make myself little "chalk bags" out of leftover fabric and baby powder for the stencilling. I use cinnamon in the bag if I'm stencilling onto white or light fabric. Then throw the bag into the dishtowel drawer (or the pile of placemats). I'm cheap and I know it, but it works for me :) I have also tried school chalk, but could never get the marking end thin enough, and I kept breaking it. I need a gentler touch to use that, but it would be great to mark with if I could ease up on the tension.