Ok for those who have the Sewline pencils... I'm wondering if maybe I bought a package that had old leads in it or something. I have a difficult time using them, they seem really hard, they don't write easily at all. I find that I have to either press hard, which distorts the fabric, or I have to go over the line I'm trying to draw repeatedly, which is frustrating and also distorts the fabric. Is this typical?

Amazon has them! The pens and the refills.

Never had trouble with lines easily drawn so maybe yours are old. Don't give up on them, replacement leads aren't too expensive. I think Connecting Threads still carries them.

Something new for me to try. On my way to Amazon to order green! I have used taylor's chalk for many years, maybe 50+ yrs. I started using the heat erasable pens in the last year or so. I have had no trouble with them. I am always open to a new product that does the job well and with good results.

I have the Sewline pencils as well. Love them. Need to get some other colors. Have not had an issue with any of them washing out but have not used the 'black' lead. For that I just use a regular #2 lead in a standard mechanical pencil. Mostly don't have an issue with that but sometimes if I press really hard on a light fabric it takes some effort to get those lines out.

I'm completely in love with my pencils!

I went ahead and ordered a pink and got it yesterday, I love, love, love, love, love it and I'm glad I switched over from the pens. As much as I loved using them, getting them to work lately really has been difficult and after the nightmare I had troubleshooting my machine, I didn't need anything else to stress me out, so I got the Sewline's.

Peckish, it sounds like the leads are old, mine worked like a charm right out of the package. I'd definitely replace the leads and toss the old ones out.

I'll be getting the black next, I'm just nervous about it because I know that sometimes, black can be particularly difficult to remove. I wanted blue but I can't find it on Amazon, but that's okay, I'm fine with black. I'm having no issues with mine coming out at all, I keep forgetting that I'm using pencils instead of pens and when I go over the marks with my iron (I use a lot of steam), the marks come out even after I've ironed.

Yes you can buy the leads. Make sure your mechanical pencil is the correct size. I believe the leads are 9mm and not 7m

However the point of the Sewline (Fons and Porter or Collins or Bohin) pencil may be designed differently than another which makes the lead less likely to break.