nativetexan

just test chalk on the fabrics. i washed and washed and some marks still show on some burgundy border fabric. sigh.

Bree123

I never know what it means when people write they are "trying to learn" FMQ. If you are truly a newbie -- meaning you have less than 8 hours of practice time at FMQ -- I would go with the Blue water soluble marker. The purple marker will start to disappear before you get very far, causing lots of frustration. Chalk or Crayola Ultra Clean crayons will rub off, causing missing parts of the line, which will make it more difficult to follow.

If you don't ever wash your quilts and have already done some practice pieces, then I would recommend either white chalk (the cheaper the better) or Crayola Ultra Clean crayons (I use the white the most often because it will come out with a damp cloth, but doesn't rub off as readily as chalk does). Be sure to buy a sharpener for either one.

The other 2 options depending on your eyesight are a Hera marker (you just score lines in the fabric -- it's similar to a bone folder; there is nothing that transfers onto the fabric) or Golden Threads papers that you punch the pattern into using an unthreaded needle & then pin to your fabric & use like a dot-to-dot that tears away once you've finished the quilting.

If you do wash your quilts, I must say that I've had the best luck with Crayola Ultra Clean markers -- but they do need to be washed to get the marks out.

The one thing I really do not recommend at all is the Frixion pens. I've known too many people -- both on QB & in real life who have had marks reappear in transit to quilting competitions, if the weather got bitterly cold, if they didn't try to iron away the marks for more than a year, or sometimes for reasons unknown. I personally had an experience with them when I received a marked quilt kit. I didn't realize it was marked with Frixion pen, rather than pencil, as was traditionally done. So I ironed it & the design almost entirely disappeared. But I remembered that cold could bring the marks back. 5 minutes in the freezer & the marks were as bold as ever. Fortunately, it's just a practice piece, but I know I can never take that quilt outside for football season or keep it in storage or my car where it can get very cold. I can't submit it to competition as it wouldn't survive the cold temperatures of the atmosphere high up where planes fly. There are just so many limitations; it just really doesn't seem very practical to me.

There are documented instances where the blue pen also resurfaced. It works by "disappearing" into the batting -- which, of course, means that in certain circumstances it can (& has!) reappear either on the back or the top of the quilt. It doesn't happen very often. It's a far safer choice than Frixion pens. Many competition quilters use blue pens & very, very rarely have them reappear in transit. Since you don't want to wash the quilt, that would be what I'd recommend.

petpainter

I just finished quilting a black and blue quilt- it had one busy print with a white background. I used a white chalk pencil
(as in colored pencils) for the dark areas, and a frixion pen on the print. There were some tight details to mark and the pencil stayed on nice and clear but was gone by the time I finished the quilt. I live in Florida, so I wasn't worried about the lines reappearing with the frixion pen. I'm a new quilter. too, so I was very happy with the results. I'll post a pic when it stops raining and can get a good picture lol!

LGJARN52

I use Crayola Fine Tip Washable Markers and I buy them at Walmart.

Vinnie

If the fabrics are dark enough, I use slivers of soap.

AZ Jane

IF (IF) it is not a show quilt but a quilt that can be washed - Crayola Ultra Washable Thin Line Markers - test different colors on different fabric - love them!! BUT only on quilts that can be washed.

citruscountyquilter

I have used parchment paper - the kind you use in baking - to draw a design on and then stitch over that. It is thin enough to see through and remove but strong enough to take some moving around (doesn't tear like tissue paper) and less expensive than the golden threads paper.

If I'm going to wash the finished product which I always do with a quilt, then I use washable markers or the ones used for quilting in blue or purple depending on the situation. Just spritzing the blue marker will make it seem like it disappears however it doesn't remove all of the ink down into the batting and it can reappear so washing is the best for that type of marker. You have to work fast with the purple air erasable ones as you only have about 15 minutes before they begin to disappear.

I'm not fond of frixion pens as I've had them leave shadows.

Kas

And the Frixion pens are not made for fabric! Regular laundry detergent will not remove the ink from the fabric fibers. I use the blue pens on light fabrics and the Clover white pens on darks. I always wash my quilts when they are done. First you need to soak and then agitate the quilt in cold water, not hot! I spin the water out twice and then add the detergent and wash on gentle cycle. Just spritzing only makes the marks vanish, it doesn't actually remove them. If they should turn up as a faint brown mark later, wash in vinegar to totally remove.

salederer

There is a pen on the market that has disappearing ink, only draw back is you can't mark too much at once as it really does disappear.

quiltinglearner

I've used the Clover Hera marker from Amazon. It doesn't actually leave a mark, it makes a sharp crease. It might not be obvious enough for what you're doing, but they do have a skinny one for tighter corners. There is nothing to wash out, and it just makes a crease which you'll make when sewing anyway. The crease relaxes after a couple of days and goes away. To make it a darker crease, I put a towel under it & pressed harder.

This is after I tried blue tailor's chalk that wouldn't come out completely. Got most of it with a dry Magic Eraser, but it's still there, even after a wash. Never again.