PatriceJ
A comment on your suggestion #2: There are no “mistakes” :( … only “creative accidents”! :mrgreen:
Lucia

I stand creatively unaccidentified

:mrgreen:

Patrice, I saw that! Lurking there and Baring your teeth!
Didn't your Mother teach you that was not nice?
Am I going to have to become a "nother" here, too???

innocent li'l me?

i've been accused of a lot of things in my life but never lurking.

oh, the horror ... the humanity

:shock:

besides ... i paid good money for these teeth. need to show them off once in a while

:wink:

I've used mechanical pencils to mark my quilts for years (many different brands) and I've never had trouble, washed out the first time :?: . Don't know what I'm doing right, but I'll keep on doing it :D .

GeeGee
Got a new picture of that cute little g-baby?

Lots of good products mentioned here and all are worthy.

I find that different materials make a difference, as does the quality of material. You'll usually find me at the $1/$2 bins at Wal-Mart, where the composition of the fabric is up for grabs. (The bolt's label often is not what is on the bolt.) Try as I might to come home with 100% cotton, sure as shootin' there'll be a poly/cotton blend in the bunch. I will use it because my "discretionary income" is gone and the nearest fabric store is 20 miles away.

Back to the point. Crayola Washable Markers for kids have washed out of everything, even after being lightly pressed. When the quilt is finished, and before it is washed, it looks like a mess but the marks have always washed out no matter what the composition of the yardage.

The only shortcoming with Crayola Washable Markers is inability to mark dark fabrics. Here I use a white marking pencil.

An economical cleaner that seems to work on everything is called "Awesome".. You can find it for 1.00 at the Dollar Tree and other such places. I find little that spraying that and a little Dawn dish detergent won't get out..even greese stains that have been washed and thru the dryer... Good luck!!..

Susan

Susan, you are so right about AWESOME !! I have used it to clean my carpets and upholstery as well. I use it for a lot of things, but I do especially like the Simple Green because I have a friend who gives me a gallon jog every once in na while. Quite a friend, huh?

Hi Everyone,
Thanks for all your helpful hints. Thought you all might like to know what is going on.I washed the quilt in cold water, and while the marks faded, they didn't disappear. So I went out on the net as Patrice suggested, and discovered many different ways to remove pencil markings. One that I tried was simply baby wipes. They seemed to help a little, but not enough. There was another mixture using rubbing alcohol, water, and clear dish soap. Because of illness, I haven't had a chance to try that one yet, and I'm not sure I'm going to. I've decided to put a positive spin on this. I will finish the quilting, then hang it on my sewing room wall. It will serve as a reminder to me to test fabric and markers first before jumping in needle first. I should tell you, this was a kit that was sold at a well-known bookstore a few years ago. As a non-quilter, I thought this would be a good way to learn, so I bought it. Silly me. The directions were practically incomprehensible for a newbie, thank goodness for other books and classes. Neither the fabric or the thread that came with it are of the highest quality. Even though I washed the quilt in cold water, the red thread color ran. So now on the backing I have this interesting design around the thread! Lesson learned, from now on no marking til I am absolutely sure what I want. Anyway, thanks again for everyone's help and advice.