I have very little experience with hand quilting and I want to improve. I have put together a simple top using rectangles. I was planning to mark the blocks with a simple leaf design and use this to practice my hand quilting. I am sooo frustrated with trying to mark the stencil. I have tried several marking pencils and they seem so difficult. Either they don't show up or the lead breaks. I have used several colors. Does anyone have any advice on better pencils or method? Thanks!

One of my favourite methods ... you know the Crayola washable markers? Well, they wash out of fabric too! Yes, I know - heresy!

I have not had any issues at all with the markers damaging the fabric - and the marks do wash right out. I always wash my quilts as a final step anyway.

Use the ones with a nice fine tip. Lots of colours to contrast with whatever is in your fabric.

Learned this from a LQS machine quilting class, well-respected and successful owner and teacher.

I've had that same problem. Thanks LindaM. Helpfull information.

This is what I have always used , and I have never had a quilt that it didn't wash out off, even if the marks had been on the quilt for awhile they still all came out in the wash..
:D

Good to know....thanks all! :thumbup:

Great information! Thanks!

what markers are you using. and the colors you are marking on

The quilt I am currently doing has a variety of colors and shades so I have tried both light and dark marking pencils. the washable markers sound like a good idea. i will check it out. Thanks LindaM

i have just discovered artists water soluble pencils - have only used light grey and silver grey and they wash out or even just come of with a damp cloth and very easy to use have been using a make called 'Derwent' don't know if its available over there though and easy to sharpen to a point which makes marking through stencils alot easier

I, too, have used Crayola washable markers with great success. I always wash my finished quilts to remove any marks and the glue I use to put the binding on.

whats that about glue and binding?

I've never thought to use these. My question is "Just because it's washable, does it mean it's okay to use on fabric. Could there be residue left on your fabric?" I'm willing to give it a try, just won't be trying on a gift for someone. Thanks for the idea.

I have two favorite marking pens. The first are new from Pilot and come in red, black and blue. The second is a white marking pen from Clover.

The nice thing is that since they're pens, you don't have to mess with leads. With both the Pilot and Clover, the markings disappear when you iron the fabric.

The Pilot pens are brand new, so I always do a test mark in the seam allowance first. I've marked several different kinds of fabric and haven't had any problem yet. With the Clover pen, when you first draw the lines on the fabric, it looks like nothing is there, but wait a short time and the lines appear. I use this on all my dark fabrics.

I've included the links for both the pens below.

http://www.cottonclub.com/cgi-bin/St...menu-1700.html

http://www.cottonclub.com/cgi-bin/St...menu-1700.html