There is a paper that you can buy called Golden something, I think. I have some and will try to find it and give you the correct name. Any way, you can trace your pattern on to the paper, pin the paper to your fabric and just sew through it. It is kind of light weight so doesn't become embedded in your quilt. Or if you have a repeating pattern that you want to use in a large area, say in the outer border, you can trace on one piece of paper, then cut multiple sheets of paper, stack them together and sew over the design without thread in your needle, then attach to your quilt where you want the design and follow the holes punched in the paper. Hope this makes sense. I had never had much luck with marking pens, etc. either, but this system worked for me. Although, now I mainly do FMQ without a pattern. Sometimes, following a design in the fabric works well.
Last edited by suern3; 05-14-2015 at 02:25 PM.