Hello Fellow Quilter Friends!
Do you quilt with purpose, with a specific person or project in mind?
Last year at this time I was deep into a complicated quilt project for
a wedding gift. It was one of the hardest quilts I have tackled. We
have events in our lives that seem “quilt worthy”; like a wedding, a
baby, a graduation, or even a memorial quilt. Those times are great
reasons to mark the milestone with a hand made, heart-felt gift.
However, this year, I find myself quilting without a purpose. Just
quilting, and its awesome. I have no deadlines, no pressure. In fact, I
have finished 2 projects that I have no idea who eventually will
receive them. I am taking the advice of Marianne, and creating things
for the Rubbermaid container. It is a good feeling, knowing that I will
have some projects made ahead. So when I will need to come up with a
last minute gift, or a provide someone comfort in time of need; I will
have to look no further than my Rubbermaid container.
My husband doesn’t get it. When I cut out a quilt yesterday, he asked
me who it was for. And I answered, “I don’t know.” He scratched his
head and said, “How can you make something you don’t know who its for?”
The answer is easy. I just love to quilt. Call it therapy hanging out
with my sewing machine.
That’s what makes us quilters unique. We are a rare breed. We create,
give, create, give, over and over again. This is the perfect season to
be sewing! If you are running out of inspiration, come to the shoppe
and see what’s new for 2012.
Until then, happy quilting.
Jean
Frixion Pen Research
The Frixion pens come in several different colors, black, blue, brown,
purple, orange, pink and red. They also have highlighters in yellow.
The pens are gel roller style and write with a fine line, the
highlighters have a broad tip. The pens were made to be erasable on
paper, however a stitcher discovered that they mark well on fabric and
the lines disappear with heat from an iron!
In the shop we have had a strip of unwashed white fabric on the ironing
board for customers to try the pens and then erase the lines with the
iron. You can imagine how many marking were made on that strip of
fabric!
Here's what I found out:
Claim 1: Heat will erase the markings from the fabric. Yes, the marks are not visible after being touched with a hot iron.
Claim 2: Freezing will make the markings reappear. This is a true
statement. I put the strip of fabric in my refrigerator freezer and all
the markings showed up.
I cut part of the strip off for further research. I ironed some of the
markings on the remaining strip and once again the markings disappeared.
Question 1: Does washing remove the markings? I washed the cut off
portion in a load of everyday laundry with Tide detergent and Downey
fabric softener. Almost all of the markings from this heavily marked
strip of cloth were washed out. The few markings that remained were
quite faint. We have these pieces of fabric at the shop if you would
like to see them. I ironed some of the faint markings and they
disappeared again.
The markings will not “bleed” if they get wet, it seems to take a detergent to remove them.
Question 2: What if washing doesn't remove the markings? The only
markings that might pose a problem would be the markings that are not
covered by stitching. The marking line is fine enough that most of your
stitching, whether it is embroidery or hand quilting, will cover the
marks. For those lines not covered with stitches the Pilot Pen website,
(www.pilotpen.com) under the FAQ link, lists several products for
removing ink—even permanent markers. One product mentioned is Amodex
Ink Remover. It comes in a 1 oz. bottle and is available at Hobby
Lobby. For further information about this product check their website,
www.Amodexink.com
Question 3: Which color works best on dark fabric? Pilot does not have
a white ink marking pen, but the pink shows up somewhat and the yellow
highlighter makes a mark that is visible. However, when I marked a
piece of unwashed jet black fabric with the pink and yellow pens and
then ironed them, white lines appeared. Fortunately, when the fabric
was washed the white lines disappeared.
Question 4: What is the chemical makeup of the ink? I don't know! I
could not find that information on the Pilot Pen website—they probably
don't want to give out their secret. ;-) However, the ink is acid free
and archival quality. If you are making an heirloom quality quilt, do
not use these pens for marking, just to be safe.
Suggestion: Always test your marking pens, pencils or chalk on scraps
of fabric before marking a project. Mark, wash and press to see the
effects.
I hope this is helpful. These pens mark the fabric easily with a fine
line and the markings are not visible after touched with a hot iron. No
more spritzing the fabric and having markings show up after the project
dries. They aren't perfect for some projects, but great for most! Try
one!
Kathy Wilgenbusch
