Marking a quilt

[Frances L.]

I am finishing hand quilting my mom's last quilt. It is a Dear Jane.I need to mark the plain white triangles in the border. I'm looking for suggestions on how to mark it. My dad said my mom marked her quilts with pencil. When I was going through her studio, I found several slips of paper with something on it to take pencil out. I know I brought several of them home with me, but now I can't find them.

[Frances L.]

Don't use pencil! I use Crayola Ultra Washable Fine Tip Markers, which you can buy at Michael's with their 40% off coupon. I've used all of the colors and they have always washed out beautifully. I use Shout Color Catchers with my detergent when I wash my finished quilts.

[Rob H.]

I use painters tape easy to use easy to see leaves no marks.

[Rob H.]

On plain white a Hera marker works well, and if you don't have one of those you can score the line with a a needle, stiletto, awl, smooth butter knife etc. I have found that this method works really well for me and doesn't leave any coloured marks behind, the score line disappears with a bit of steam or a damp cotton bud.

[Rob H.]

Prisma Color VERITHIN GOLD is one pencil that COMPLETELY rubs off or washes out.
Use a light hand, when marking, and the gold usually wears off before you are finished hand quilting.
As a hand quilter over the years, I learned the hard way. I have tried every product available.
If you use markers, you are adding acids to your fabrics that will break down the fibers in time. If it is a dog bed or wall hanging
who cares, but for an heirloom like your DEAR JANE, THE ONLY reliable products I would use are
Pat Campbells White chalk Pencil, soap, or soapstone on darks and a
Prisma VERITHIN color GOLD on lights,
or a HERA on any fabric you can see the indention, as someone else suggested.
To test my suggestion, cut a couple of squares of batting and bleached muslin and make a quilt sandwich.
Use a Prismacolor Verithin GOLD pencil to mark a design. No doubt, ff your Mom used pencil, she may have used a type that was pure graphite, not the ones found today that have chemical additives. These pencils will not wash out. I have a queen size quilt with the marks still in it after many years of washing.

[Frances L.]

I was so afraid of leaving marks on the white fabric that I traced the triangles on freezer paper, cut out part of the design and ironed the freezer paper onto the quilt and quilted along the edge of the freezer paper.

[Geneva C.]

Frances, I am so glad you are finishing your mom's Dear Jane quilt. I remember her showing it to me while she was working on it. I thought she was so clever to use only 2 fabrics! It was fabulous. Please show us a picture when you are finished. I know she is proud of you for taking the quilt on.

I think of Margarita every so often and still miss her.

Take care,
geneva