I have a question, what is the best way/or best pen/pencils to mark quilting lines on quilt top for hand quilting?

Thanks,
Wilma

It depends on what you are quilting...the size. I personally, use the disappearing ink pens at Wally world (at least that is what I call them). One end is blue which is the Mark-B-Gone end and the other end is purple which is the Disappearing Ink end. I always use the purple, as it shows up the best. You don' have to put water or anything on these, the lines just disappear after 72 hours. However, if you were wanting to keep the lines on for a little while I wouldn't use these pens. Sometimes when I use them, depending on the fabric, they are gone within an hour or two and other times they last the full 72 hours. These pens are my hand quilting favorite! Hope this helps :D

I draw my design on Glad Press and Seal (or run it through my inkjet printer attached to a sheet of paper) and stretch and press the Press and Seal to the fabric with my hands. I then quilt through the Press and Seal and carefully remove the product when completed.

Nice tip w/ the PNS. I'll try it.

I read this hint in the $100,000 quilt challenge magazine recently and have been tinkering with Crayola classic thin washable markers. I am still a bit nervous, but so far so good. It draws on my quilt easily without tugging and having to apply too much pressure. When done I just wet down a "car wash towel" (in other words a washcloth used for chore work vs. my face) and it comes right off. I use a marker that resembles the print color area closest (just in case) and it works great.
Now that it is back to school time, the markers are pretty inexpensive.
Two rules though...use a soft touch with your lines and DO NOT expose to heat.
Before discovering the markers I usually use thin slivers of ivory soap or chalk. cheap, easy and washes right out.

For hand quilting, I use a light touch pencil. Keep the lead sharpened, so your lines are thin. The hand quilting thread will cover the lines in case they don't wash out.

I've heard of this technique before but never tried it. I was afraid that even that small amount of glue would gum up the needle in time and that the plastic film would dull the needle. But it sounds like it works fine for you. I may have to try that sometime. I've used the Golden Threads Quilting Paper a few times but I'm not wild about it. No matter how much I pin, it never lays flat enough and I get some distortion in the design.

Ahhh...good question and an eternal problem for quilters.

I just finished quilting a small project and the purple or blue ink markers didn't work. Yellow chalk wasn't working either.

Soooo...I did a paper method. Drew the pattern on paper, pinned it on the top and away I went. (Machined quilting.) Problem...getting all those tiny bits of paper out. :evil: So I went to JoAnns and bought the Washout interfacing and going to try this next time...probablay next week since I hve another top almost ready to go.

No idea how this will work but worth a try. At least I won't have tiny pieces of paper to pick out...took forever. :?

Julie in NM
If you don't work on it, you'll never finish it!