I like Meg Hawkey's embroidery designs and use her method for coloring with crayons. Her instructions and color suggestions are included with the patterns. Also, her website, Crabapple Hill Studio.com has detailed coloring instructions, probably on Youtube, too. She now uses the more vibrant colors like Inktense instead of crayons. As far as washing, I haven't made anything that I would need to wash, mainly wall hangings or pillows, so no help on that. I haven't tried the inktense yet. I really like the soft look of the crayon for now. When setting the color with the iron, I have used white paper towels or white printer paper. Main thing is to be able to see if there is any color transfer or if you need to iron more.