Marking pens.....Oops I ironed it!

I bought this lovely embroidered table cloth at a local thrift store.  Obviously, whoever made this table cloth was probably pretty annoyed about that light blue marking.  It's visible on the entire edge, and in some areas of the hand embroidery.  I got to thinking, what about all of those marking pens   Once the excitement of getting it home, and removing it from those things called instructions, do we really follow directections, or is it more a case of..... I have to mark a fabric, oh look a marking pencil, pen, marker, chalk, I'll just use that and be on my way.  I thought it might be fun to test some of the markers I have and find out what happens when we don't follow instructions.




Here's my selection, some of these are probably quite old by now.









Let's see how they perform to a real life test.


Ooops, I ironed it!!!

Aren't you just a little freaked out by the Frixion pens?  The marks completely disappeared, I had to do a double take.  Now the weird thing about these pens is that the marks come back in cold temperatures.

I stuck in the freezer for a few minutes, and I'll be, the lines were coming back.  So strange.


Next, I dumped the sample in the washing machine with my laundry.  No pretreatment,.

Nothing up my sleeves front and back pics freshly laundered. It would appear that they have all disappeared.  Ironing next...


Well you could knock me over with a feather.  The Water Erasable Marker from Clover (top), and the Mark B Gone, came back.  The Clover pen left an ever so slight tan, and the Mark B Gone left something slightly darker.  The Mark B Gone is old, aprox 5 years, the clover is probably 2, but still in it's original packing.  I wouldn't use either of these on a white quilt fabric, but it's good to know there are other options that perform well.  I'm pretty pleased at the Frixion....wait, let me stick the sample in the freezer again.  Nope we are good, still no marks Yay!


                                                                                                                             

Sample was washed warm water with Tide free & Clear,

Who washes their quilt, just after quilting it?  I know I didn't so tomorrow we'll follow instructions for the pens and see what the recommendations are.



Comments

LindaC said…
This is interesting. I'm glad you are posting about his. I have used the blue washout markers (Mark-B-Gone) for years. As a matter of fact, mine are probably many many years old. I have never noticed them leaving a mark or a returning mark after washing, but I've never looked that hard either. I probably won't replace the ones I have. I have switched to chalk or chalk pencils mostly. I have not tried the Frixion pens. They do give me the creeps a little bit. Not sure I trust them even though I don't live in a cold climate. :) Is it your experience that after washing they are gone gone?
ELMO said…
This is my first time using the Frixion pens. They did disappear after washing them, the marks did not return after washing and ironing. The next sample will be a quilted sandwich, and we'll see what happens. Apparently some people have made quilts and sent them to quilt shows in cold climates, where the marks have reappeared in the cold but disappeared in the warmsth. I'll provide more detail in the next post.
LindaC said…
Thanks for replying. I just ordered some from Amazon. I think they are worth experimenting with. I'm not a quilter, but am a fabric crafter and garment sewer so I think these could be handy.
ELMO said…
I think you're going to like them, I may do a test next week on silk, just for fun.

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