daria

does anyone use cornstarch in their pounce instead of chalk? Does it matter?

bev fry

I have a can of the magic marking quilting spray that is almost completely full and I will never use it again. it wipes off very fast. I was motif hand quilting and it was gone half way through

liblueeyes

Don't own the pounce - never had the money for it. But, I took a couple of layers of cheesecloth added some cornstarch- tied with rubberband and made a pounce out of it. I make my own stencils using computer paper and making the holes for the patterns with a thumb tack point. I trace the patterns from books - magazines etc. This keeps the lines as just holes. I then sometimes take my Dixon marking pencils and run over the dotted lines. Sorry if that is totally confusing. I do like this way of marking - cheap!

SewExtremeSeams

Cool idea! I would have never thought about that. Thanks for sharing. By any chance have you also made your own spray starch out of cornstarch and water? Thanks again, Linda

:-P

cka

I have tried both the pens and the pounce. Haven't mastered the pounce, but like the ideas given here. I will try before getting rid of the investment. I have regressed to the system I learned in Home Ec years ago...soap slivers. Have a bar of Ivory soap and slice off slivers as needed. The pattern stays put and washes out everytime. I only mark the area I'm working on at the moment.

mes libby

I have not used the pounce but I do mark my quilts with a papermate smartwriter and I have never had a problem getting it out of the quilt I mark all my fabric with it have been using it for about 10 years. I buy them at the dollar store or walmart they are yellow and they come in a package of 5 or 6 in the package you just turn the lead out and the when all the lead is gone I throw it away. I love this pencil I gave one to my mother-in -law because she used a reg pencil and she had a hard time getting it out

Warm Hugs

I have and used it but DO NOT like it ...... hands get so dry !!! from the chalk

rnjoy

I have one I purchased in Paducah. I was told to wipe your quilt with a slightly damp rag then just run the pounce over the stencil and do not actually pounce it. It was a success when I used it and it was not visible when the quilt was done. Most of it had flaked off by then. No residue no staining.

wishiwerequilting

I think what type of marking works for you really depends upon how you are quilting. hand quilting, long arm and domestic home machine...all have different requirements IMO.
The can of miracle chalk is awesome for domestic machine quilting, in my experience. It's just that you have to rinse off the stencil between sections. I usually do an entire side of a quilt (border) or maybe several blocks at a time. Maybe a continuous line across one row of the quilt. never the entire thing.
If the chalk disappears with steam, just the heat of your hands and a little perspiration will take it off, but that is not happening when you have the quilt in your machine bed.
You have to experiment to see what works for you.

JCL in FL

Fons and Porter make a white mechanical pencil and it is great on dark fabrics and the marks are crisp. Love it for darks Other wise I use the water erase markers, I hand quilt and the ones that disappear fade too quickly.