Template plastic
 

I’ve been making appliqué patterns from template plastic. I’ve tried different pens — regular ballpoint, pigma micron, even pencils. They all smear. any ideas?

Have you tried a sharpie? They do have them in fine lines too.

Are you using the pens for drawing on the plastic to make the template or drawing the template pattern on your fabric?

Use a fine line sharpie, and let it set for 24 hours without touching it. I've never had a problem afterward.

I use a Sharpie on plastic. It can be somewhat cleaned with rubbing alcohol.

Cut just inside the drawn lines, so there is no ink on the template.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I do cut just inside the lines but sometimes ink smears while I'm doing that. And I like to mark the template so I know which piece it is. I'll try a sharpie.

Unless I need to transfer markings in the center of the template, I don't use template plastic. I use regular poster board and draw around the template. It's less expensive and readily available.

I wonder if instead of using a pen, using something like an Xacto knife or other sharp pointy instrument to mark/scratch the lines onto the plastic? There'd definitely be no worry about smearing.

If you just want to put a label on the template, one option is to to write the label on a small piece of paper and then attach it to the template by putting a piece of clear tape completely over it. (So the paper needs to be smaller than your piece of tape.)