Using crayons to color in designs, how durable?
10-27-2010, 04:07 AM
#3
Power Poster
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Northern Michigan
Posts: 12,861
as long as the coloring was heat-set and treated properly they hold up quite well. we do coloring quilts at a local preschool every year and the first one a little boy i know still has his quilt he made in preschool 9 years ago...it is still holding up just fine...a couple of the pictures did fade some, he just got his crayons out and redid them but most have not faded hardly at all. the 2 that did were quite light to begin with. his quilt gets used and washed.
the only special treatment his mother has given the quilt is she does wash it in cold water..but then she tosses it into the dryer just like anything else a mother of 6 does. and we do not use any special crayons at the preschool, we use whatever crayons the child has...crayola and dollar store crayons work equally well. the key is using either PFD fabrics (prepared for dyeing) or pre-washing/preparing ourselves. for the preschool project i have been involved with for the past 9 years i have used PFD fabric. i iron freezer paper to the back, cut out 14" squares and give them to the kids..they color their pictures on the fabric squares. then i heat set them for them, using a brown paper bag and a hot iron. the brown paper collects the wax, the color sets into the fibers. then we get together and the kids decide on the fabrics for sashing strips and we work together to make it a quilt. we always combine the quilt project with other classroom activities..like working with shapes, we have used circles, triangles, diamonds, rectangles and squares. the teachers are very creative at combining activities with lessons, the kids learn lots. i set up a little sewing machine and they all work on their own quilts...the only things we do not let them do is iron/press. we draw lines on our fabric and they cut with their little safety shears, we draw lines for them to follow to sew, but if they make their seam 1" wide that is ok too...it is nothing but a very positive activity. as they get older we stress acurracy more but for the pre-schoolers it is more about the lessons being learned and creating something of their own, the technical part we do not stress over we do not want anyone feeling like theirs is not good enough. they are all good enough! and treasured. each child makes their own quilt to keep and each child makes a block for a class room quilt which the raffle to pay for their end of year field trip.
the only special treatment his mother has given the quilt is she does wash it in cold water..but then she tosses it into the dryer just like anything else a mother of 6 does. and we do not use any special crayons at the preschool, we use whatever crayons the child has...crayola and dollar store crayons work equally well. the key is using either PFD fabrics (prepared for dyeing) or pre-washing/preparing ourselves. for the preschool project i have been involved with for the past 9 years i have used PFD fabric. i iron freezer paper to the back, cut out 14" squares and give them to the kids..they color their pictures on the fabric squares. then i heat set them for them, using a brown paper bag and a hot iron. the brown paper collects the wax, the color sets into the fibers. then we get together and the kids decide on the fabrics for sashing strips and we work together to make it a quilt. we always combine the quilt project with other classroom activities..like working with shapes, we have used circles, triangles, diamonds, rectangles and squares. the teachers are very creative at combining activities with lessons, the kids learn lots. i set up a little sewing machine and they all work on their own quilts...the only things we do not let them do is iron/press. we draw lines on our fabric and they cut with their little safety shears, we draw lines for them to follow to sew, but if they make their seam 1" wide that is ok too...it is nothing but a very positive activity. as they get older we stress acurracy more but for the pre-schoolers it is more about the lessons being learned and creating something of their own, the technical part we do not stress over we do not want anyone feeling like theirs is not good enough. they are all good enough! and treasured. each child makes their own quilt to keep and each child makes a block for a class room quilt which the raffle to pay for their end of year field trip.
10-27-2010, 04:22 AM
#4
Super Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 3,536
About 5 years ago, I was playing around, and traced a picture, colored it with regular cheap crayons, heat set it, then sandwiched it and echo quilted it. Washed it - even with bleach - and it is still fine. Its hanging on my wall. It seems like several years ago, I read something that suggested not using the "made for fabric" crayons because they don't hold up.
10-27-2010, 06:46 AM
#6
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: The middle of an IL cornfield
Posts: 7,014
I have sweatshirts done by my Girl Scout troop that are 10 years old. They get worn every winter and washed at least once a week during that time. The colors have faded some, but still look pretty good.
10-27-2010, 06:56 AM
#7
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Williamsport Pennsylvania
Posts: 3,361
I bought fabric crayons. I followed the directions to the T. A few weeks later the crayons faded soooo bad that you could not make out the design. I bought fabric markers and redid the crayons.
Much happier with the results!
Kyia
Much happier with the results!
Kyia
10-27-2010, 09:00 AM
#9
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Okeechobee, Florida
Posts: 1,076
Originally Posted by judylg
How well does the crayon coloring hold up to the occasional wash? Anyone done any? I have seen them and they are nice.
BillsBonBon
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