First time using Press & Seal wrap to draw on quilting designs--suggestions?
 

I have a quilt on the frame that I want to do "ghost" quilting of the embroidery flowers and think that I can do that best by drawing the design on Press & Seal and stitching though it for this detail work. But I've never done that before and would appreciate any suggestions from those of you that have used Press & Seal to mark your quilting design before. This will be done on my long arm with a SoFine #50 thread.

Thanks!

P.S. the embroidery work is on a very light tan muslin, with an iron on backing on it. the embroidery has been highlighted with Inktense pencils.

I would mark the minimum amount of the motif you feel comfortable with, quilt that, remove the wrap and then go back and add the details. Press and seal will come off, but it's really difficult to remove if trapped in tiny areas.

I tried this, using a fine felt pen to draw the design on the Press & Seal. After sewing I found it wasn't easy to get some of the product off and still ended up with black marks on most of the fabric. Am not sure if it was the Press& Seal left behind or the white thread picked up the ink. I doubt if I will do that again (not with felt pen) as it was more difficult to remove than paper, at least paper will soften and wash out.

May I suggest you use wash away stabilizer instead? I've used both & the stabilizer removes much better. You just quilt the bigger parts, remove the stabilizer, finish the details & spritz with water any remaining stabilizer. Works great for me.

I used black marker, too. the needle poked the black through the plastic onto the fabric. some of it didn't come out. thank goodness it was not an important piece.

I like to use parchment paper for things like this. It is stronger than tissue paper yet sews through easily, can see through to trace a design and tears off easily once it is stitched through. It's the kind you use for baking. Inexpensive as well. I just pin it on in sections.

I use Press and Seal for an outline and don't sew through it.

I would not use the press and seal. It is a real pain to remove the tiny pieces left behind from the stitching and notorious for allowing your marking tool to transfer to the thread even permanent ink that has already dried. If you don't feel comfortable marking the quilt with a water soluble pen made specifically for this purpose (like mark-b-gone) then do what Cindy60545 suggested and use a water soluble stabilizer and make sure you also mark that with a water soluble pen. Gina Perkes recommends using the water soluble stabilizer in one of her books as well. The stabilizer will not stick to the surface so you will have to pin it in place.

Another option is to cut the shape out of freezer paper and iron it on to the quilt top and quilt around it. Remove the freezer paper and go back in to quilt detail.

I used it once and it was hard to remove. I draw designs on tracing paper and then position the design on my back panto table to line up with where I want it and stitch using my laser light (just like a panto).

I used press and seal once. Never again! It was the devil to get off. I think you would be happier using a light weight paper pinned on. Good luck.

I have used Press and Seal, and would use it again. I've never had any problem with the markings coming off on the fabric, but it can be difficult to remove, but I just take my time, use my tweezers to get out the tiny stuff.

There are better products. I used it once on my domestic machine and never again.

I tried it and will never use it again. What a mess. Try Golden Thread quilting paper. Works real well .

oh why, oh why didn't I look at this thread first thing this morning??? Patience, know my name, please! yup--I was in such a hurry to get back onto the long arm after 4 days of company, that I started working and went ahead and used an Ultra Clean Crayola marker (green) on the press & seal and quilted away! Grrr.. so mad at myself right now cause if I'd taken the time to check the thread I started I would not have done that! Besides little pieces of the stuff all over, the green came off on the thread (SoFine) and I have little green pokies--so pick it out and will get the marker out before I do FMQ--if I can free hand draw on the Press & Seal then I can do same with machine!

I have used Press and Seal and use a frixion pen to mark or an Ultra Clean Crayola Marker that will wash out of the thread. To remove paper or Press and Seal, try the eraser end of the Frixion pen to pull out the little pieces. It grabs them and really helps to remove those pesky little pieces.

ugh! Sorry you made extra work for yourself! Your last sentence above is your solution! Lesson learned! We have all had a time like that..

The wash away stabelzer works great, I have used it for hand quilting for years. I use the fine tip crayola markers to draw my design on the stabelzer and have never Harvard problem. Used pencil once but the graphite went through onto the quilt when stitching, luckily I caught the before much had was the. I have also used the blue wash away pen.

They have wash away stabilizer???
I have to get out more!!!!
I did try press and seal years ago and went back to tracing paper or golden threads. I have frixion pens but haven't tried them yet.

Just wanted to follow-up--took a longggg time, but got all the green tinged stitches out and then very carefully (didn't want to mess up the embroidery work or the Inktense dye work) soaked out the green Crayola Ultra Clean Marker (at first it smeared cause I was rubbing it, so really just soaked it--no rubbing!) and will work on the blocks tomorrow--today was lunch with quilt buddies and guild work. Here's some pictures of the whole fiasco![ATTACH=CONFIG]564511[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]564512[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]564513[/ATTACH](the shadowing in the last picture is just wet--once dried it was the color it was originally--whew!)

Absolutely beautiful embroidery blocks. So happy you figured out how to do your shadowing. I am still struggling with FMQ on my domestic. I finally found that if I use (children's) news print pads and print my pattern on the paper as lightly as possible, that I am good to go. I only do simple FMQ nothing intricate as I am still "a beginner" in that area. I am also grateful for all of the replies.

I use my 40/50/60% off coupon from JA and buy a whole bolt of this stuff. (store it in a dry,not humid, environment)

Always use a washable marker to draw with. Set your stitch length smaller so it's easier to tear the plastic away.

I had the same experience with the press &seal. What a mess! I have wondered what would happen using Frixion pens. Excess bits of plastic might be melted away and the ink disappear?? Just an idea.