Marking a quilting pattern.
 

If you are going to mark a pattern out on your top do you do it before or after basting? Does the choice of basting affect this decision? Does the choice of marking ie, tape, pen, or chalk pen affect this decision?

Yes to all your situations. You should also add hoop or no hoop.

Mark it first!

Hand quilting or machine quilting?

If I am using chalk I mark as I go. I once made the mistake of marking out an entire quilt with a ceramic lead pencil in white for hand quilting before basting. Most of my marks had rubbed off to the point I couldn't see them by the time I hooped the quilt. I had to remark as I went.

Now I have a rack and quilt on a LA so chalk marks tend to stay a little better but I still give them a quick spray with hairspray to help them stay put and not rub off. If my designs are based on the blocks, or I can easily measure to continue the design, I mark as I go. But if I have a large design that spans larger than my throat space, I mark before loading

I do a combination. Usually I mark as I go using either white chalk or a sliver of soap for dark fabrics and the purple air eraseable pen for light fabrics. But, for some projects I use the blue water soluble marker to create the basic lines that I want to use to divide the quilt since I want those divisions to stay on the whole time I’m quilting. Any places where the blue lines cross dark and can’t be seen get ”joined” as I go using a sliver of soap or white chalk.

either way, I almost always mark after I baste.

Rob

I baste with pins, and then I mark as I go. I usually use chalk and that would be gone way before I got much done.

Thankyou for the opinions.

I rarely mark a quilt, but when I do I mark after because I use soap and it's not very durable.

I never mark. I do FMQ and not necessary.