Hi, I bought a package of quilting pencils, colors are white, blue and pink. Do they come of the fabric easy or are the marks hard to get of the quilt??

the ones i use come off when i wash my quilt i have used a purple one on white material one time i let a quilt top set so long it dissappeared before i washed it !!!!

Hi craftybut,
Just had this "conversation" about guide lines with Mary on topic
http://www.quiltingboard.com/posts/list/15/10288.page

This was her following remark:

Ellen, it wasn't a pencil. It was chalk pounce. I have used the white chalk pounce before and it comes off when you iron it. I like it a lot, but the blue chalk is supposed to come off with a wet rag and it didn't.

I use the mark B gone washable pen and it works great and does come right out when you spritz it with water.

Mary

Good luck to you.. I too am needing guidence !

Ellen

Hi , those colored pencils are ok if your lead doesn't keep breaking ! I have had the hardest time with marking pencils . I use the blue water erase markers on light colored fabrics but haven't found anything good for dark fabrics . Chalk comes off very easily , had if come off before design was done . Good luck . Annie

the only thing I've found for dark fabric is the slivers of soap that are left when the bar is almost gone and it has the sharp edges on it. Those work well for doing small areas as you go. I grab them out of the shower when they are dry and toss into a box. Oh yeah, those pencils are infuriating when the lead keeps breaking. I'm going to try a mechanical pencil with white or yellow lead on my current project.

I bought quilt pencils about a month ago. Because the lead inside they are very brittle and it keeps breaking out, sometimes before you can even get a sharpened point on them. My pack had yellow (which is great on red), white, and grey, and they have all been sharpened to small little stubbies. I don't know what a better is, but I'd like my marking device to last me more than one quilt. Oh and you have to mark it a couple of times for it to be dark enough to see. A friend warned me that she had that trouble with them years ago, I would have thought they would have fixed the flaw but no.

My pencils had erasers on the ends, and that took the marks of no problems. It's supposed to come off in water too, but I haven't washed it yet.

Hope you have better luck! :)

i've used them for yrs.(blue & white) where did you buy yours? i couldn't find any at Joanns last time i was there

babeegirl where did you get white and yellow lead for mechanical pencils ? I've never seen any . Annie

I have the pencils with white, blue, red/pink. They have wooden/natural colored barrels. They work fine for me. I bought mine at WM last year before we bought out the craft store...then, I had about 25 packs. :roll: To tell the truth, I haven't sharpened mine...I haven't used them that much. Want me to go sharpen them and see?

I'm still looking actually. I've seen it but I can't remember if it's Office Depot or OfficeMax

That's ok babeegirl . I was just wondering . Annie

I had bought white pencils, I think "general" brand, the wood natural looking pencils for my mom. They work great and we ended up buying a bunch more. Never have problems sharpening them, but found some blue and yellow by same brand and can't get them to work in any of my sharpeners without breaking, so I just use a sharp knife and "sharpen" them the old-fashioned way. The lead doesn't get pointy, but at least they are usable.

How do you successfully sharpen these pencils? Some of them are too big to go in my pencil sharpener. Others just break and break and break.

A bad idea: I used lead pencil darkly to mark a quilt thinking it would erase easily. It didn't. If marked very lightly, it's not too bad.

A very very very bad idea: Using any sort of ink pen.

I have seen faded marks on some pieces - possibly from the wash-out or fade-away markers.

If doing straight-line quilting, the masking/quilter's tape works fairly well.

I have bought white quilting pencils , they broke . Sharpened down to a stub . Tried white colored pencils , not much better . Bearisgray , are your pencils the fat ones ? Like beginner crayons for little ones ? Try to find a hand pencil sharpener with 2 holes . 1 small for regular pencils and 1 big one [ like for fat crayons ] . That's what I did . Good luck . Babeegirl , walmart doesn't have the white or yellow lead for mechanical pencils . At least not here . I going to look at staples . I'll let you know what I find . Annie

Connecting threads have the Fons & Porters mechnical pencils that I have heard work very well. I have used the white pencil (from WM) on dark and the purple/blue pens on lighter colors. They both work fine. I sharpen with one of those old timey hand held sharpeners with 2 size holes...if I'm not too enthusiastic...it works well.