I am confused - will the Sewline go away when pressed?

My step-father used to use soap stone a lot for all sorts of uses. I hadn't thought of using it for quilting. I'll ask him to bring some when he comes down for Christmas. He doesn't work with it himself (he handles the business' accounts) but his company is a waste management company and a lot of the workers who do maintenance on the dumpsters use soapstone to mark them so there's boxes of it all over the place there.

I bought F&P pencil and white leads on sale at JoAnn's and I really do love it. I picked up some gray leads for lighter colors, but found it didn't wash out quite as easily as the white.

Yolanda - the sewline pencils are not the "iron off" type... you either use the Sewline eraser or you can dab off with a damp cloth.

http://www.sewline-product.com/Sewline_Fabric_Pencil

My Home Ec teacher, who just happened to be my mother, told me that soap works well. I collect those tiny ends of soap - the ones that are pointed - and it works well on anything except very light fabric. A damp cloth erases it immediately.

Not all those 'washable' markers are washable. I tested some and they did not wash out.

What works great is a little sliver of soap. You know, those skinny leftover bits of bar soap. And it will wash right out!

It's the clover white one. Very fine line and takes a few seconds to show up.

From APQS Quilting Forum:

Pilot FriXion Pens?


A bit of buzz among the local quilters of late. Pilot makes these new pens called FriXion -- erasable ink pens where the ink supposedly disappears with friction -- rubbing with the little eraser on the end. Well, it turns out that the ink also disappears very slickly with a hot iron. They are roller ball gel pens and come in about eight colors -- black, blue, green, red, pink, purple, orange, etc. Supposedly the only way to make the ink reappear is to put the paper (or fabric) into a freezer at 14 degrees. So, I marked some fabric with the black pen. It disappeared when ironed. I put the fabric in the freezer. After about an hour, I could see a bit of a watery line where I had marked. How often do I think I will freeze my quilts? Hmmm, maybe never? I haven't tried washing yet. I've written to Pilot for more info and have the "we got your email" message, but nothing else so far. For now, I think I'll give these a go on my own quilts. Most likely not on my customers'.

Linda

Havent been able to find these, where should I look? :D

We got them at Staples.

I found them at Staples. Have not tried them yet.

I like the Sewline mechanical pencil that uses ceramic lead. I only use the white and graphite colors. They will erase or you can spritz it with water and give a little rub to get rid of it. I find that the line is so fine that if I can stay on the line my thread completely covers it.

I was just reading about the Frixion on a site and here is part of a statement from them.
"How does it work? Metamocolor technology! 'Metamocolor' is a word entirely made up by Pilot marketing people, but basically it's a type of thermo-reactive ink. The heat generated by the friction causes the ink to become translucent (at 65°C fact-hounds!). Stick it in the freezer (-20°C) and your scribblings will re-appear - albeit slightly faded."

I use plain white chalk - yes like we used in school on the chalkboard. Or a Clover white chalk pencil. I like paying .79 for the box of chalk as opposed to 3 or 4 bucks for the pencil. I have even been known to sharpen my chalk.

I have this pen. It's a bic and I got it at our grocery store, Giant Eagle. Package of 2 for 2.99. Works great!

Tissue paper.For a table runner I did I used tissue paper to guide me on the border (wanted Christmas lights). Just cut it to the width of my border, layered the tissue, then used a Sharpie to trace around the template of a light & base I had cut out. Used my little glue stick to adhere it to my runner, then machine quilted. Pulled off easy & looks great. Don't think I'd use it on a larger project

I think I will have to try the FriXion pens from Staples. What colors do you recommend for light and dark material?

I've found most marking tools to be frustrating to see on my fabric because I'm visually impaired. The only thing I've found that works (after testing each fabric first) is crayola washable markers. I've tried every color on all kinds of fabric and haven't been disappointed yet. The darks show up on the lights and I use white chalk on the darks. Everything has washed out so far. I couldn't be happier.

Well, the verdict is in, mind you--it's really only my opinion, but a few of you asked me to share my results. I went on a shopping spree to buy all sorts of marking pens. I have not tried the frixion....in my smaller town/local small cities there's not a lot of access to those things and the nearest big city is 40 miles away. :? But, I bought the white lead pencils from Fons & Porter and the chalk rollers in white (yellow was the problem maker that led to this post in the first place) and I tried washable markers, chalk liner refills, disappearing markers, mark-b-gone and literally every marking tool on the Joann's quilting notions wall.

Most of them washed out of MOST fabrics but not all (even some of the washable Crayola markers wouldn't come out of the lighter creams). I tried each tool I bought on many different types of fabrics, grades of cotton quality and shades of colors. Two things I've found have washed out of everything: Hela markers and Dove soap slivers (I didn't try other brands of soap). Hela markers are just little sharp tools that leave an indent on the fabric and the indent washes right out without any damage to the fabric or indents left on the back of the quilt. The soap slivers washed right out and were so easy to use. Thankfully, for Christmas I received many Joann's gift cards and I dedicated one of these to getting these marking implements and I did take notes to see which tools seemed to work best on what colors/grades of fabrics so I can still use them but from now on, my primary marking tools will be Hela markers and Dove soap...so much cheaper in the long run! Thanks for all the help and suggestions!

Thank you for the succint update. I purchased the frixion pen at staples after looking every where else, although I havent had the nerve to try it on white, I did take a black pen and mark about 1 inch long on my blue jeans, and with just a touch of the little nib on the bottom of the pen the friction removed the mark completely, I love the purple disappearing ink from prim, but sometimes it disappears before I can even quilt a long line of stitching. It seems they depend on humidity and heat, and down here in Fla so far work like a charm on white fabric. I have never seen the hela markers so will look next Jo Anns trip as I have several 50%coupons upcoming in the next two weeks. :-D

This has been an interesting and helpful thread. Appreciate the update and recommendations.

Our Joann's didn't carry them. I had to get my Hela markers from Joann.com but the indents last for at least a few yours, (my eyes are usually too tired to quilt after that much time, :lol: )

What is a pounce pad?

They're little pads filled with powder. You dab them over top of a quilting stencil and when you remove the stencil, the design remains. Eleanor Burns did a segment once on quilting and when she covered these, she said you could make your own with cornstarch and a few layers of cheesecloth. I was planning on making one soon. I haven't tried it yet but from everythign I've read, they should work nicely on everything except white fabrics.

I have used several of the washout markers and they worked very well. Just finished a quilt that I used the wash out blue marker. Some of it didn't wash out. Does anyone know how to get it out after it is set?

I have used the frixion pens and don't know about being washable, but I've tried it out on scrap and it irons out beautifully.

i found them at paducha this year ...everywhere