j50

How do to mark quilt tops for quilting with stencils?


I am interested in your experience with the use of chalk and pouncers. brandname. colors of chalk. Ease of removal of chalk.

I have even heard of using a foam paint sponge with chalk.

Thanks for sharing.

Sephie

Depends on the kind of stencil. If it's the mesh kind where the lines you mark are covered in mesh, you're supposed to use chalk/pounce, in which case I just use the pounce since I have one. I have the blue chalk, not the iron off kind, but I've had some issue with removing the lines in the wash so just be careful.

If it's the kind where the lines are open, I much prefer to use Crayola Ultra Washable Markers. I always wash my quilts in hot water, then warm water after they are complete, and have never had a problem with any of the colors washing out. I've ironed on them, left them on for many months (a year?), and they've always washed out. So great. It's obviously more work than a pounce, but the lines are easy to see and come in a variety of colors, plus cheap.

Stitchnripper

I have a pounce, don't like it. I like a disappearing pen if I am going to get to it quick. Otherwise, crayola fine tip ultra washable. I always test but they have always washed out for me. I like the fine tip ones.

dunster

What I've learned, more from taking classes than from actual experience, is to only use white chalk or pounce, or use the blue pounce cautiously, mixed with some of the white to make it easier to remove. The blue water soluble pens are good, as well as the purple air erasable ones. (The purple ones have the same ingredient as the blue ones, just less of it.) And always test first.

NJ Quilter

I've never been able to effectively use the pounce markers. I generally use a plain #2 mechanical pencil for light fabrics and a white fine line Bohin/Sew Fine pencil for dark colors. Sometimes that just doesn't do it. Most recently I used a large barrel chalk marker - now under the Bohin brand but when I originally bought it I think it was Clover?? It came with many different colors of chalk. This last one I used the orange as I was working with green and tan fabrics and didn't want to be switching back/forth. I was also machine quilting vs hand this time so all the shoving/twisting/etc. of the sandwich through the throat of the machine was erasing much of the fine-line marking before I got to it.

In the areas where I was not overly heavy-handed with my marking, the orange washed out fine. In the areas where I was a little too heavy-handed, it took several washings and different treatments to get the markings out. But they did come out.

I'm going to have to try the washable markers at some point I think.

Onebyone

I like the Pounce if I am using a stencil. If you haven't used a Pounce, the name Pounce is not what you do. You don't pounce the pad you rub it on the stencil. When you first fill the pad you then slam it down on a solid surface about 100 times. Many don't do this so think it doesn't work when they fill it and then nothing happens. The inventor of the Pounce demonstrated it at Paducah show and he slammed it as hard as he could for several minutes. You only have to do this slamming when it's new, then the pad is saturated. It glides over the stencil. I have never had a problem with removing the chalk. It washed or ironed off depending on the color.
When I don't use the chalk I use Crayola Ultra Washasble marker fine tip. It washes out completely.

j50

Great info.

Does the Crayola Ultra Washable marker wash out with a spritz of water or does it have to be washed in a machine??

ekuw

I think it has to be machine washed. I just bought some of these markers and tried them, but did not come out easily like the blue water soluble markers I usually use so I was a too chicken to try them other than a small scrap piece of fabric.

bearisgray

I was wondering if some fabric finishes release the marks better than others?

Or - in other words - do some fabric finishes retain marks more than others?

j50

How long does the blue marker stay on the fabric?

I have some that are air soluble markers but they do not last very long... like minutes