I took a hand quilting class not too long ago, and the woman who taught the class uses a No. 2 pencil and has used a No. 2 pencil since she learned how to quilt. She uses it for light fabric. For dark fabric, she uses tailor's chalk. I have used the No. 2 pencil, and it works beautifully. Washes out without a problem. You can see it without a problem. Easy to use. Nothing that I can find wrong with using it. I have used tape for marking long straight lines. The only down side to it was I used a lot of it, and it isn't cheap, but it does work very, very well.