Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Wash Out Markers

I have used a few different things to make my stitcheries and finally found something I liked.
I have tried chalk pencils. They do well, but you do have to push harder and the blue ones don't come out without soap.
I would recommend using freezer paper underneath, to stabilize your fabric.

I got two markers, disappearing ones. A purple and a pink one. They are great, until they start disappearing, lol.
If you wanted to use them for a quick design on machine quilting, but they do disappear fast.

Then I decided to use a Pitt artist pen. It makes a nice fine black line, so if you are working with black, it gets covered.
The benefit is it lasts, so you can make up your projects ahead of time and do them without worrying about the ink. The drawback is, if you make a mistake while applying it, you either have to stitch over the mistake, or redo the design.

Then I got two blue wash away markers. One is fine line, one is a small soft tip. The fine line is made by Dritz, water erasable. The other, made by DMC is an embroidery transfer pen. The fine line is nice especially for detail, but the small tip is a bit stiff. The Dmc pen has a softer tip and goes on smooth, but leaves a larger mark and I made more mistakes. But, it didn't matter, they both washed right out. All I had to do was run the piece under cold water and the marks disappeared, no rubbing needed.

This is the piece after stitching, you can see the blue marks. I used the fine line on the lettering and hive, and the soft tip on the rest.



Here is the piece, finished and stained. No marks reappeared after drying. I had that happen with the blue chalk pencil.
I got mine at Jo anns and used a coupon, so the cost is minimal. Both work great, it is up to you whether you like the fine or soft tips. The only thing I didn't have time to test was, how long do the lines last, will they stay if I make ahead for a trip and if I leave them on for weeks, will they still wash out. I guess I have to do a test on that too;)

7 comments:

appleberrycottage said...

I use the blue Dritz, and have had no problems getting it out with water. (other than the time I was stitching at the pool, and water splashed on it and erased the lines!) I've had project traced for months, and had no problem with the lines erasing or fading.
Laura

Primitives By The Light of The Moon said...

Well that is very good information to know. I just use a plain ole pencil and most of the time can't see where I'm going so I'll certainly have to give this a try!

Dorothy said...

To get the blue out, forever, just soak it with water, not just a dab with a wet cloth. The fineline
pen in brown works well under stitches too.

primitivebettys said...

Great tip on the markers. I'll have to keep those in mind. Lovely stitching too... as always! :)

Anonymous said...

I never did like using my light box to trace my patterns. I then found a blogger who showed how she uses Sulky water soluble stabilizer to trace her patterns on, then you just wash it out after you finish stitching. I fell in love with the method and that's all I use now, I have about 10 rolls of the stuff in my sewing room.

moosecraft said...

Did ya' ever see that show "America's Test Kitchen"? Well... I'm thanking you for being "America's Test Stitchin'"! LOL! Really... I do appreciate that you take the time to share what works... as I have quite the collection of marking pens that went evil on me... :-)

Christine said...

A tip from "Sewing with Nancy" is to add a bit of soda to a spray water bottle to help remove blue pen marks....apparently the ph in some water makes it more difficult. I have never had a problem with this.
Christine