i very seldom ever mark a quilt before quilting but on those rare occassions i use a chalk pencil- the one i have came from Clotilde's, is red- is refillable- came with a box of (chalk sticks) they are sharpened - so you can draw a fairly fine line, and they come in white, pink, orange, green, blue & i think yellow---i've never had a problem with them washing out & if i need to change/adjust a line i just need a damp washcloth to wash it away & redraw.