Tuesday 30 August 2011

Testing quilt markers

I've had a bit of trouble recently with removable quilt markers not coming out easily, so this time I did a test on a scrap of fabric first. It's most peculiar, because I have at different times used all of my markers and removed them easily, but they seem temperamental at best. Has anyone else found this?


This was a piece of the actual background fabric from the quilt, which had a mark and couldn't be used. I wrote my name in 3 different markers (clover blue pen and sewline pink and green ceramic pencils), drew a few lines of verying weight, then sprayed it with water - they're supposedly all water-soluble. The blue almost completely disappeared straight away, and with a litte more water was gone, even after ironing, but the other two weren't going anywhere. So the blue it was!

Here's a peek at the quilting motif for the white squares:

3 comments:

Pip said...

I've only ever used the Clover blue pen and a Mathilda's blue pen, both came out with water. I've used the Sewline white chalk pencil and the Sewline marker pen (comes out dark purple) and both of those have come off, well so far that is. I wonder if sometimes they change the formulation and that is why we have problems, one reason to always do a test sample first.

FlourishingPalms said...

I've never had a problem with pink or green because I've never used them! But I've found that the blue wash-out marker doesn't "spritz" out well. The quilt must be immersed to remove all the blue chemical. I must ask... have you had the chance to try a Frixion pen for marking fabric? I can't believe how wonderfully it works! I've just used a red pen on a multi-colored print, and after quilting, it disappeared with steam from my iron. When the quilt is bound I will wash it to remove all residual chemicals. Otherwise, if it isn't washed, when the quilt is exposed to cold temperatures marks will reappear. So I've been told anyway. I haven't tested that yet. Look for the same Frixion pens kids use in school. The ones with the feature of erasable ink.

Little Munchkins said...

I've only used a blue marker - I think it's Clover. It always comes off for me.