erasing chalk marks
 

When tracing designs to follow doing free motion quilting, does anyone know of an easy way to erase the marks later? On light backgrounds I have to use colored chalk, which doesn't easily brush off.

I quit using colored chalk. There is no way to know what dyes are in them, and some never come out. I would chalk some scraps of the same fabric that is in your quilt and then try a variety of removal methods until you find one that works. Just be aware that some products such as bleach and benzoyl peroxide weaken fabric.

I don't have an answer either since i don't use chalk to mark my quilts. You can try a sample of white, chalk it up and see if it comes off in a wash or w/ water...

i use a frixion pen to mark my quilts.

I never use color chalk either. The powder white chalk come off easily. If I mark on white, I either use the blue or purple be gone.

I used colored chalk once. It never came off and I tried everything I could think of except bleach since it is not a white fabric.

I used pink and yellow on white fabric. Neither came off completely.

Would washing it or soaking it with several Color Catchers work?? They removed red dye that bled onto the white portions of a tablerunner from a I made. HTH

On light backgrounds, I like to use Frixion pens, or Crayola Ultra Washable markers. I always wash my quilts after they're finished, and I've had good luck with these washing out. If you don't want to wash, maybe the silver Roxanne pencils? The purple pens that disappear in the air (or when you spritz them with water, if you live in a very dry climate) are good, too, as long as you plan on doing your quilting right away.

It's hard to find things that brush off light fabrics. Coloured chalk does tend to stain, so I avoid it whenever possible. I've actually had better luck washing out ballpoint pen than coloured chalk.

NEVER,EVER use colored chalk!!!!! I used yellow to mark a baby quilt about 4 yrs ago, it's been washed about 20 times and still has yellow lines on it!!