Blog
To Pre-Wash or Not? A Quilter’s Guide to Pre-Washing Fabric
Pre-washing fabric is one of the biggest debates in quilting. Here’s why I always pre-wash, how it affects shrinkage and dye bleeding, and whether it’s worth the extra step.
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Working with Wovens
New to sewing with woven fabrics? Learn Tara's favorite tips for working with Handloom and other wovens, including prewashing, managing fraying, adding starch, and getting the best results from your fabric.
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Designing My Fabric Collection: Handloom
Designing Handloom was such a joyful process and one deeply tied to my background in textile design. In this post, I’m sharing how I developed the colors, tested different woven textures and fabric weights, and worked with the mill to create a collection that feels vibrant, textured, and full of depth.
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Quilt Marking Tool Testing & Reviews
by Chelsea Hard Hello! If you don't know me (why would you?), I am Chelsea, Tara's Operations Assistant. You can usually find me answering emails, moderating Block Studies Zoom sessions, and helping write copy for Tara's video courses, website and this blog. Tara sometimes introduces me as the one who "bosses her to victory," which translates to "makes spreadsheets with dates on them and asks occasionally if something is done yet." Either way! Here I am! Nice to meet you! In this post, we're going to get into the challenging question of what marking tools are safe to use to mark quilting lines on your quilt tops. BIG DISCLAIMER: Even having done the following test, I want to provide a warning up front here (and probably again later) that this test was done with specific fabric from my stash, marks were left on the fabric for 24-48 hours and results may be different on your quilt top and depending how long marks are left on before washing. Basically, always test your marking tool on your fabric before you trust anything and don't come for us if it doesn't work out! I teach beginning quilting in-person and in a walking foot quilting class, I kept getting the same questions over and over about what tools did I trust to draw quilting lines on my quilt tops. My answer was always "none of them!" The only tool I have ever really trusted is a Hera Marker. This tool sets a crease into your fabric so there really is basically zero risk here. It irons or washes out and if you're sewing over the crease, it really doesn't even show. So what about the dozens of marking pens and pencils and chalks on the market? I will admit that when I set out to do this test, I did it for my own personal use so the documentation is pretty minimal and I didn't get a photo with all of the marking tools (some of which I borrowed from other quilting pals). The Test: Test all available (to me) marking tools by marking dark and light fabric, heat setting half of the test, washing, drying & placing in the freezer to see if the marks disappeared. The Tools: Roxanne's Quilters Choice Generals's Charcoal White Water Erasable <Fine> Clover White Marking Pen <Fine> Clover White Chaco Liner White Water Soluble Clover Pink Water Soluble Pencil Clover White Standard Peely Pencil Mark B Gone Fixion Felt Tip Fixion Ballpoint (black) Frixion Ballpoint (red) Crayola Washable Marker (red) Crayola Washable Marker (blue) Crayola Washable Marker (orange) Blue Triangle Tailor's Chalk (no brand) Bohin Blue Pencil Bohin White Pencil Water Erasing Styla Sewline Ceramic (white) Sewline Ceramic (pink) Sewline Air Erasing Air + White Soluble Ink Pentel Gel Roller for Fabric (permanent) Sharpie Ulta Fine Point (permanent) My Thoughts: Frankly, I was shocked by the results. Nearly all the tools washed out or washed out in a way that if you had quilted over the top of them (with the exceptions of those noted in the grid below) you wouldn't have been able to see the lines. A lot of the chalk pencils, frankly, weren't any fun to use because they were so dry, had lots of drag and well... were chalky. Even where they washed out, I much preferred the experience of using something with more of a marker tip that didn't have drag when you ran it across the fabric. The absolute standout from an experience and writing smoothness perspective was the Sewline Water Erasing Styla. I tried to be extremely critical of the results in the grid below, because I hate to tell you this, but even when I zoom in on the photo I just took, I can't see the faint lines left behind from some of the marking tools. If something wasn't faint (I'm talking about you Crayola Red), I noted that too. I was really surprised (though I suppose maybe parents won't be) that besides red, the Crayola markers washed out. Am I ever going to use a Crayola marker on my quilt top? Still no. The Frixion pens all washed out, including the red pen and did not reappear when left in the freezer or leave ghost marks when heat set, BUT I know that some folks have had them leave a ghost mark and those in the test were left on for a very brief period, so again, would I mark my quilt top with them (these pens that aren't intended for fabric use)? Again, no. Am I going to keep using them to mark the cut lines on a HST? Sure. I hope these results were helpful! Always test! I'm not thinking this far ahead when I start a quilt, but it might be a good idea to test your marking tool on some fabric swatch at the beginning of making your quilt top (so it gets left on the fabric for a while) and then do the test yourself. Then if it takes you 700 days to hand quilt something, you will at least have an idea if your chosen marking tool will be removable. Or you could take the optimist route and go "Well, didn't all this stuff wash out? Let's just draw all over this thing!" The choice is yours! What will I really do instead of that? Use a Hera Marker, because even after the test, even after the successes, it all makes me a little nervous! What do you think? What's your favorite marking tool? What are your marking tool horror stories? We want to know! Leave them in the comments. The Results: # Marking Tool Washed Out? Not Heat Set Washed Out? Heat Set Additional Notes 1 Roxanne's Quilters Choice Y Y Difficult to get a smooth line. Had some drag on fabric. 2 Generals's Charcoal White Y Y 3 Water Erasable <Fine> Clover Y Y 4 White Marking Pen <Fine> Clover Y N Difficult to get a smooth line. Had some drag on fabric. Left a faint mark when heat set on dark fabric. 5 White Chaco Liner Y Y This is Tara's preferred marking tool. Product is dusty and will not stay on for long, not good for pre-marking an entire quilt. 6 White Water Soluble Clover Y Y 7 Pink Water Soluble Pencil Clover Y Y 8 White Standard Peely Pencil Y Y Difficult to use on fabric. Had a lot of drag. 9 Mark B Gone Y Y 10 Fixion Felt Tip Y Y Marks did not return in the freezer after washing and drying. 11 Fixion Ballpoint (black) Y Y Marks did not return in the freezer after washing and drying. 12 Frixion Ballpoint (red) Y Y Marks did not return in the freezer after washing and drying. 13 Crayola Washable Marker (red) N N Left a red line that would be visible, like someone drew on your quilt with Kool-Aid. Oh yeah! 14 Crayola Washable Marker (blue) Y Y 15 Crayola Washable Marker (orange) Y Y 16 Blue Triangle Tailor's Chalk (no brand) Y Y 17 Bohin Blue Pencil Y Y 18 Bohin White Pencil Y Y Difficult to use on fabric. Had some drag. 19 Sewline Water Erasing Styla Y Y Super smoother writing experience on fabric. 20 Sewline Ceramic (white) Y Y 21 Sewline Ceramic (pink) Y Y 22 Sewline Air Erasing Y Y 23 Air + White Soluble Ink Y N Left a faint mark on dark fabric when heat set. 24 Pentel Gel Roller for Fabric N N Much darker than the Sharpie. Would use for quilt labels instead. 25 Sharpie Ulta Fine Point N N Used to mark all the labels on the test.
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Sunny: Design Inspiration
My newest quilt pattern and video course for my Sunny Quilt is available now and today I'm sharing some design inspiration to get you excited about this versatile quilt pattern.
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How to Block a Quilt
If you knit, you will know all about blocking. It's the act of getting your finished project wet, then securing it to a flat surface to dry in an effort to make it dry flat.
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Marrakesh Quilt and Color
Hello quilters! I'm excited to share Marrakesh with all of you! This pattern gives you the freedom to experiment with color and how you want to break down the block, allowing each quilter to create a personalized look. So, let's talk a bit about elements that can really change how this block looks – color and value. Color Choices First off, let's talk about color. It's pretty straightforward; the colors you choose have a huge impact on your quilt's overall look and feel. For instance, cool colors like blues and greens can create a calm and soothing atmosphere, while warm colors like reds and oranges can give your quilt a cozy and inviting vibe. Additionally, where you put the colors in the quilt blocks creates a wonderful variety of looks! A Bit About Value & Contrast Light fabrics bring brightness, while dark ones add depth. Combining light and dark fabrics can create that eye-catching contrast that makes your quilt design stand out, or fade into a soothing calmness. When you play with contrast by pairing light and dark fabrics, you can really make your quilt design pop. High contrast creates bold, striking visuals, while low contrast offers a softer, more delicate touch. Pictures are the best way to showcase some examples of these design elements. I hope the mockups below will get your design mind buzzing and inspire you to play with this block! Have fun sewing! Tara You can purchase the pattern HERE!
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Marrakesh Block Variations
I'm excited to share Marrakesh with all of you! This pattern gives you the freedom to experiment with color and how you want to break down the block, allowing each quilter to create a personalized look.
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Traverse Quilt Pattern Now Available
Learn about different color possibilities for your next Traverse quilt!
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