citruscountyquilter

I use air erasable markers and the marks totally disappear without washing. I have about 30 minutes of clear markings and some marks will remain for longer but after a day or so are totally gone. My favorite is Leonis brand that I order through Amazon. I've never had issues with them but would test them on an inconspicuous area of older fabric first.
As far as how to quilt them design wise for me it would depend on what the pattern was. I do a lot of curvy quilting with a walking foot so painter's tape wouldn't work for anything other than straight line unless you cut it to a curved pattern which seems like a lot of work to me. Perhaps posting some pictures could give us some ideas.

AZ Jane

I have a front load washer with a hand wash cycle that I would not hesitate to use. I have washed some very old quilts in it without problem. Short of that, a soak in the tub with a sheet under it for lifting, water is very heavy and could strain the stitches. I do love the Super Washable Crayon Markers. Beware of the yellow though.

mopec

My grandma made quilts for family and for others. Everything was hand quilted, there wasn't any other option back then. She marked with lead pencil. She has been gone for 56 years. Wish I had learned more from her when I was a girl.

Colly

You have all been so helpful! I love this forum. I will post pictures when I figure out how. I am almost half way finished with quilting the first quilt. It is going way faster than I thought it would. I did not mark this one because it is all 2" inch squares and I thought I could just go across the squares diagonally. So far I am pleased with the results. This is my first attempt at hand quilting. I like it.

ckcowl

After they are quilted and bound they should handle washing just fine. Cool water, gentle cycle or by hand swished in a bathtub. Mild quilt detergent. Tumble dried with medium or low heat. They will be beautiful. Washing is better than the harsh treatment of dry cleaning which they may be tempted to do if you label them to not wash. Dry cleaning is a horrible choice for cotton quilts, the dry cleaning chemicals can eat the fibers. Cottons generally launder well, become softer, lovelier with time. They shouldn't be laundered like bed sheets, often; but once or twice a year is fairly standard.

Colly

Thank you ckcowl. I will look for quilt detergent. I have never heard of it before. You are right about the label. Ill wait to see how my attempt to wash it turns out before deciding how to label it.

Mt Glory

I was asked to quilt an older quilt made out of flower sacks...I just did simple swirls & hearts..there was some fullness in some of the blocks but when I carefully quilted thru the fullness, it turned out very nice...

greaterexp

I've hand quilted a few quilts from that era. I chose to do simple outline quilting 1/4 inch from the seams on most of them. I chose not to mark, but eyeballed it. They all came out really well. Most of the piecing was by hand and the patterns were pretty simple. I sure hope you post pictures of the tops before and after you quilt them!

salederer

What about the ink pens with disappearing ink? The only problem would be you can not mark the whole quilt at once as the ink would disappear too fast.

Colly

What are your experiences with disappearing ink pens to mark quilts. I read that the marks reappear with temperature changes. Has anyone experienced that?