Originally Posted by
An Arm Long
Thanks everyone for all the info. I will share it with my guild. We had tried alot of those things but did not realize that there were differences in graphite pencils. I will try it on sample fabric now.
It is true that frixion pens will take the color out of some darker fabrics. I did stripes on a red fabric and when I ironed it the blue frixion marks came out but there were very thin white lines in their place.
A Checker (quilting notions) distributor yesterday told me this about Frixion pens. If using on a batik, iron them away and if a white line remains, use Best Press to remove the white line.
If using on regular quilting cotton (not batik) the lines will come away with the tap of an iron or (my favorite choice) by tossing the quilt in a clothes dryer for a while. Here's the complication - if the quilt gets cold, really cold, the lines will re-appear. So if you are apt to leave a quilt in a car in the winter or if you compete at big shows where your quilt may get shipped in the cargo hold of an airplane, be aware that your markings will come back. That's a problem. Multiple washings will remove the marks, but may still have little bits re-appearing for a while.
That being said, I really like these pens because they make such a fine line and come out so easily with an iron or a dryer.