Question on Marking Pens
 

I'd appreciate some advice if anyone has used the Frixion pens by Pilot for marking their quilting lines. I recently was able to meet up with my old quilting group (I've moved away) and was showing the quilt I was currently working on. I had marked my quilting lines with yellow chalk and our teacher says sometimes the yellow chalk is hard to get out and showed me the Frixion pen and how it will disappear when you press your iron to it. I'm wondering -- if these pens are fairly new, how do we know the lines won't reappear 5 or 10 years down the road like has happened with other marking pens in the past? Anyone used them and recommend? Thanks!

There have been several topics here on the board about the Frixion pens. Some have tested them. The marks do come out with heat but also come back if the quilt is exposed to cold which could happen if shipping a show quilt to a show. Some have said once the quilt is washed they don't come back. I have not tried them myself.

My concern is quilting with polyester batting, it tends to not like having a hot iron applied after quilting. I have also had problems with yellow chalk not coming out. I have had very good luck with white chalk, white ceramic lead pencils, blue washout markers, and plain old pencil over a starched quilt top (the mark from the pencil "floated" on the starch and when washed, the marks wash out with the starch) and the purple air erase markers for marking as you go.

I do not use anything that could be permanet, like pencil or pens. Chalk is what I like to use. There are a few horror stories about how the air/water/steam did not remove the markings.

Only time will tell with the Frixion pens. I have used them, ironed the blocks, the put them in the freezer to bring back the lines. I think on these that each time the lines are ironed they are lighter the next time they appear. I'm kind of leaning to the ceramic pencils for marking quilting lines.

I like using Frixion pens when I can, but I use them where marks cannot be seen as a precaution. I have used washable blue pens and white chalk with success. The dollar store sells battery operated toothbrushes for a dollar each. I dip mine in some water and then wipe off the blue marks. It also does a decent job in brushing off the white chalk marks. The bristles are soft and do not hurt the fabric.

I have discovered that if you use the dark pens on medium/dark fabric, they bleach the fabric. I marked a border on a red fabric, needed to adjust my markings so tried to iron out my first marks. I had permanent white lines. Since that experience, I have done lots of experimenting with the same results. Our little quilting group has tried everything to remove the lines, and they don't come out. I will continue to use these pens on light fabrics, but I've learned my lesson on darker fabrics.

I don't think any of us can predict about 5 or 10 yrs down the road.

However, what we can do, is do our own tests by duplicating the conditions. Eg. same fabric, same treatments, same starching (or not), etc. And to remember that with different variables, what is OK this time, may not be the next time, because something may be different.

The same goes for chalks, and other types of markers. Test! Test! Test!

In addition to some of the comments above ... the Frixion pens have been known to bleach out where they have marked. Often their disappearing act is all that is noticed, because they have been marked on lighter fabrics. If you look close you may see the bleached line is there. I know, I have seen that happen on lighter fabrics ... as well as darker ones.

So, I'm very cautious using the markers on the right side of fabrics.
Love their fine lines for marking on the wrong side where the risks aren't so high.