I plan the quilting and mark it before sandwiching. If I've found a pattern in a book, I can copy it to the right size and lay it on a light box to mark the top.

I think marking before sandwiching is easier but I usually forget to do it until after I've pin basted the whole thing - just did that last night!! Maybe when I have more experience I will develop a better way of doing things.

I sandwich and mark, but for no reason than that is how it was done by the person that taught me..I honestly never thought to mark first . I hand quilt everything and am going to try marking first and see how I like it!

Yes I generally try to mark my quilt before sandwiching it together - though sometimes for feathers I get a spur of the moment idea and I will mark the spines with chalk as I go. ;)

I can never decide how to quilt the quilt until after I have started or half done and then it's - i should have done this! But if I'm marking after it's sandwiched, then I like the thin roller chalk marker. Just did this with my lighthouse quilt. I wanted to do crosshatching in the border, but the quilting bar kept moving and my lines were not evenly spaced. So I used my marker and followed those lines. Works really well.

I hand quilt and mark before layering *most* of the time.

Jan in VA

This is an interesting thread! I know intuitively that I should mark my quilt before sandwiching for all the reasons mentioned so far. But with every single quilt thus far, I forget to mark it until I have layered it.... I always kick myself but forge ahead. It is so nice to see that there are others in this boat with me! Maybe NEXT time I will remember....

I also use the Clover chalk markers & the white removes very easily BUT the YELLOW is not so forgiving. I just finished a Breast Cancer Ribbon quilt, which I am donating for a charity golf tournament & had to use the yellow to mark a design & it does not come off. Thank goodness I only used it on a 3 blocks but have tried everything & it is so stubborn. My quilt is now in the wash & hopefully that will help. I used some Dawn dish soap on it & I'm hoping things will improve. Also have the blue but have not used it yet & probably won't now that I have had so much trouble with the yellow. The White is a piece of cake to remove. Sooooooooooo frustrating.

I often don't know what the quilting will be until after the sandwich is made. I have used a lot of methods to mark, and sometimes I just wing it and don't use any markings. Last fall I hung a Carpenter's Square quilt in the closet waiting to decide how to quilt it. I still haven't decided, so it's still there.

I have found a great way to get rid of colored chalk lines. I bought the vacuum attachment for cleaning sewing machines, computers, etc. The brush attachment with a little scrubbing motion gets rid of the unwanted chalk.

Duh - never thought of marking before sandwiching.