Because I was worried about having used the pens to mark a t-shirt quilt I made for DDIL, I decided to do a test before using them again.

Using a discarded sleeve from a t-shirt, I marked on it with a black Frixion pen, then threw it in the wash, cold water, with my regular laundry. It also went through the dryer. It came out as clean as it was before I marked on it. The final test was putting it in the freezer to see if the marks would reappear. They did not.

Based on my admittedly limited test, I now consider them safe to use on a quilt that will be laundered.

I have been using them all along and I am with you. Never came back after the freezer test..

Thank you for this info. I bought two and used one to mark lines on an applique but never used it again after learning about their reappearing act. I really liked the marks because I could see the lines with no difficulty. Thanks again.

Same here....Frixion pens are the only marking pens I use... only wish they would come out with a white one

We had better grab them up while we can! I heard that the quilting world (beyond our wonderful board) has found out about them and the distributors are buying them up for sales in quilt shops! Our local Staples is totally sold out! :(
I guess we all know the price will go up now!! :cry: :cry:

But, can you iron over them without affecting their temp status?

No, the hot iron removes all traces of the pen...

They were being demo'd at a quilt show recently, selling them for $2.

I have three and love them.

cool, I have such a problem remembering not to iron over any markings I made on my blocks as they then become permanent.

The iron only removes the visibility of the ink. If you ship a quilt to cold place, the receiver is likely to see your markings all over it, unless you washed it before you sent it.

Washing seems to remove the ink completely - no trace of it is visible whether frozen or not.

This worked with eight colors of the Frixion roller ball style pen and six colors of the Frixion highlighter markers that I tried.

Y'all gonna love this!

I just grabbed a Frixion pen to use on the paper side of the Heat and Bond. Cut the shape out with the 1/4 inch paper allowance. And Ironed the design right off the paper!

It is in the freezer now and I am hoping the lines come back!!!!

They probably won't come back when you want them to.. :thumbup:

Nope they didn't come back ... just traces of the marks showed up after a hour in the freezer.

I bought a 12 pack on Amazon for $4.99

i have tested this on many fabrics that can be washed and i have come up with the same conclusion as you.

safe for anything that will be washed.

Is your freezer set low enough? I believe 14* is the magic temperature that brings the lines back.

If the marks don't reappear when in the freezer, you need to lower your freezer temp or get a new one! 14 degrees or lower is the temp the marks will reappear. Your freezer should freeze foods between 5 and 0 degrees. Your fridge should be keep refrigerated foods 34 degrees.

I found them at Sam's Club before they became popular after reading about their quilting use on a quilt blog about a year ago. I got a set of all colors (no white but the orange and pink shows up great on dark colors) for less then $8.

Well the freezer keeps ice and icecream rock solid. Maybe because the marks were on the waxy coating of Heat and Bond paper?

And are we talking 14 degrees celsius here? Or Farenheit?

I speak celsius! But can convert if I know which one we are talking about!

14 F

OK I will have to try using mine...........

Same here....love those pens.

I emailed Pilot, and the pens are acid free/archival quality- so you don't need to worry about them leaving something nasty in your quilt!

(They did include a "but don't use these for archiving- they disappear" note. Well, that's exactly what I want!)

I don't do show quilts, so these are actually PERFECT for art quilts- things that don't get washed. I've never figured out how to wash off the marks I do use (even just chalk) if I don't run it through the wash, and the air soluble markers don't last long enough.

I'll likely use them on my regular quilts too- since those all go into the washing machine.

Knowing that they are acid free makes me very happy, and seems to have been a concern for many (at least in older threads)

I just used one on some dark fabric and when I hit it with an iron the lines turned white. Cant get it to disappear. Washed it with no good results.it has always disappeared when Ive used it on light fabrics.

There was actually a thread on here recently where a lady did the test including using and not using starch to see if it came out or not. After that I started using the pens. The only downsize to it is that the lines are so thin that it's hard when I do backbasting; I need the line to show thru the fabric for that but I do like the thinness of the line.

If you wash them in Hot water the lines do come out but it has to be hot not warm water.

Have you tried it with Hot water; that's how you get them to come out and stay out

I got a set of 3 at Office Max for $6.