Marking black quilts?
 

I am making a mini quilt to mock up the plans for my next show quilt. I plan to have a black background. I marked the mini with tailors chalk and it is a disaster. My foot is covered in chalk and it is downright dusty. I cannot imagine this on a large quilt.

How do people mark their designs on black quilts? Is there some other writing option other than chalk?


The only other thing I can think of is to use a light colored backing fabric, mark the design in on it (mirroring the words) and have my bobbin be the right side. But that seems like a great pain to always be checking my tension for all the quilting (it is going to be a wholecloth)

Slivers of bar soap work well on marking black quilts. And, up side is, you just wash it out or take a damp cloth to it. That's all I use. Haven't found anything that works better yet. :)

Thanks. I'll give that a try. Is there a secret to marking detail work with soap? It seems like it would give a pretty thick line.

Pounce with the iron off chalk

I found a waxy chalk at my LQS. It works great and when you want the line gone, you just press.... it disappears. I used a paring knife to keep the edge sharp and there isn't any white chalk on everything. That's how I quilted the one in my avatar..... love black quilts.

I have two questions about this.
First- does pounce not come off as dust like regular chalk? That is my biggest issue, there is dust everywhere when I quilt.

Second- can pounce be applied in fine detail? I've only ever seen it used with stencils.

Use those mini hotel soaps; cut the soap into smaller pieces; or use the last sliver of soap that everyone avoids in the shower.

I've used soap a couple of times and I'm really pleased with how well it works - and washes out.

There's a pounce chalk on Golden Threads that's advertised to not brush off.

Also there are white and silver pencils similar to Mark-b-gone

I used http://www.wawak.com/products/produc...s-Chalk-White/ to mark on dark materials that can be ironed.
I've never had great luck with the white vanishing ink fabric pen personally, so on materials that can't be ironed I use silver Sharpie markers. But that only works if you're marking on the wrong side of the fabric and the fabric is dark enough that any minor bleeding that occurs in the wash isn't an issue.

Have you heard of a Hera marker? It is a plastic tool that will make a sharp crease in your fabric. I use it all the time for marking on quilts.
Another option in to use Press N Seal. Draw the design on the plastic with a marker (frixon maybe); press the plastic onto your fabric and sew. Haven't tried this but sounds like just the thing you might want to do. Here's a link that may help:
http://ajpadilla.com/tutorials/marki...ng-designs-pns