How to Quilt>Mark a Quilt for Quilting

Soapstone for Marking a Quilt

It seems like every time I go into a quilt shop, I look for something new and different to mark quilting designs on my quilts.

There are a few things you want to stay away from - regular pencils (although there are plenty of quilters who use them, I have difficulty getting the marks out sometimes), and ball point pens. The biggest criteria is that you want the marks to come out of the quilt - whether they get washed out, erased or just wear off.

The easiest marking tools, in my opinion, are the ones that wear out all by themselves. Chalk is one of those, and there are several chalk products on the market. I like the mechanical chalk, but you can also get powdered chalk for use with stencils.

Soapstone makes markings that rub off easily and won't harm fabrics. This is a great tool for marking quilting lines on dark fabric.

It comes only in white, and is very easy to use.  You can draw around a template or draw freehand.  Because there is some “drag” on the fabric as you are drawing, it’s not like drawing on paper.  I have found it easier to take short strokes that move in the same direction on the fabric.  While this does take some extra time, the design will be more accurate because it will not get stretched out of shape.

One of the great advantages of using soapstone as a marking tool is that you don’t really need to wash it out.  Over time, it will brush off or wear off.  The drawback to that, though, is that you don’t want to mark too far ahead of your quilting, because by the time you get to that section, you may need to re-mark the quilting design.

Happy Quilting!

Penny Halgren

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©2009, Penny Halgren
Penny is a quilter of more than 27 years who seeks to interest new quilters and provide them with the resources necessary to create beautiful quilts.

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