quiltsfor

This may be strange, but I was feeling a little guilty for doing it since it is a permanent mark, so I was wondering if anyone else does this. Careful as it may bring a 'gasp'.

I use permanent sharpies to mark my fabric pieces when I need to match two pieces together at the same place. Of course I only do so in the seam allowance so it isn't seen on the 'front' of the finished block. But, with my eyes, I have a really hard time seeing the finer fabric markers in among designs in the fabric, no matter what color I use.

So, with the sharpies, I use black or gold for lighter colored fabrics if need be, but mostly I use silver. All I do is put a small dot from the 'fine' point of the marker. It makes a dot about the size of the head of a small plastic ball on the top of a small sewing pin. Easy for me to find and see, while at the same time staying hidden in the seam when sewn.

Stitchnripper

Sounds like a great idea especially since it works so well for you! I love to try new ideas and new gizmos

Onebyone

If the mark is hidden it doesn't make any difference what marking pen I use. Whatever is handy is fine with me.

frannella

Don't do it! Sharpies explicitly state 'not-for-fabric-marking' somewhere on the pens themselves or the packaging. Specifically, if you ever intend to wash your quilt, Sharpie ink can bleed, so it doesn't matter if the original mark is invisible.
The night before my youngest son's wedding I stayed up most of the night cutting out batik hearts on which wedding guests were asked to sign their names using an assortment of Sakura pigma micron (archival quality) and Sharpie permanent fine line pens I had on hand. I was going to incorporate these signed hearts into a border on my son's wedding quilt. While working on the pile of signed hearts to determine who signed and whose signatures were missing, I knocked over a glass of water and the pile was soaked. Sadly, the Sharpie-signed hearts bled rendering most of the pile of signed hearts unusable.

petthefabric

Last I heard Sharpie is alcohol soluble. In the rabbit barn, we used Sharpie to mark which rabbit what’s in the cage. Could. Remove it with hair spray. Cheaper the better.

lwbuchholz

I have used sharpies to do pictures on my grandsons quilt and they did just fine. An if the dots are in the seam out of sight it doesn't matter. My eyes aren't the best now and I like having something I can see.

sewingpup

I think I would take some scraps, write on them with a sharpie, let it dry, pour water on it and see what happens, if nothing happens, I think I would put the sharpie scraps into a bag and wash them as you would wash a quilt and dry....see what happens. I know sharpie marker does not stay on some surfaces. I mark my insulin pens with them, it stays on one but not the other. Also I use masking/painter's tap to mark dates on the food I freeze. Sometimes it comes off.

quiltsfor

So very much this! So much easier to see.

I decided to give it a try. I pulled out some different fabric scraps and marked them. I got them wet, wrung them out,... no change in the markings. Then I washed them all. None of the sharpie markings ran or changed. They look just like they did when I marked the fabric.
To note: these are permanent sharpies, not the water soluble sharpies that they also make.

And if it does happen to fade out through repeated washings, it doesn't matter, at least for my usage, as all I need it for is to match up the seams when putting certain blocks together.

DebLuvsQuiltng

Could also use fine point Crayola ultra washable markers.

Lena1952

Quiltsfor, I've use black Sharpie Ultra Fine permanent markers for years the same way you do and have never had a problem. I haven't tried the silver yet.