I use a Hera marker and never had it show up after I finished a quilt or what ever I used it to make with. It makes a crease mark that comes out of everything II have done.
I do not mark quilts to be quilted so do not know about that. At the West Coast Quilters Conference that was held in Sacramento in 1996, Laura Lee Fritz (the best I can remember) did something called Dent Transfer. She used a variety of items to make the marks that were dents. She even would mark quilts for you. I thought she used a Hera marker, but her hand out does not mention one. Maybe I am not remembering the right person, but that is where I started using the Hera marker. She used onion skin paper to draw designs on and then a blunt hard object to make the dent. Light shines off the squashed lines and then to remove you can wet the fabric and the indentation will disappear. I even use my fingernail to mark stopping lines when I am putting on binding. Often times the marks are gone by the time I have gotten the piece done. Once I let a girl use my marker when she was sewing X on denim squares and she wore it down., but the marks were visible for her to sew and were gone buy the time she completed .Laura says to use a stainless steel crochet hook size 7, a toothbrush-rug-tool, a medium balled burnishing tool or a ballpoint pen that is completely out of ink. This is an old method but does well. The light from your machine makes it visible, while you are sewing. It is safe for fabric and easily removed.

lanajoyce wrote:
If you leave a quilt in a car or outside in cold weather, or if your power goes off, those lines could come back. Not if you live in the tropics, maybe, but certainly if you live somewhere it gets cold.

I have not read all the posts on this topic, but I have used these pens that have been around for at least 5 years. I saw the demo on them at a vendors booth at a large quilt show.

They give a very fine line, but after the ironing to remove them the residue is still there & I have only recently found a way pf removing them. I have sprayed the lines with Resolve Oxi-action Laundry stain remover. I did just a bit of rubbing & the lines were gone.

The lines if not removed from the fabric with some sort of laundering can & will return if the quilt gets cold enough. I had them return on a quilt that was shipped back to me in the winter in Canada, no surprise that it got cold enough. So if a quilt is shipped in an unheated compartment in winter the same thing can happen.

I had seen a well known quilter state that she has had success with pressing the lines with a strong jet of steam, but I did not have any success when I tried.

Dawn
BC, Canada

Thank you Loren! Great explanation

I have a Pfaff which has the integrated dual feed - big factor in my selecting that brand, especially since I didn't want to spend big money on a Bernina with a stitch regulator.

Kathy

Let me try again and explain what my concern is about these FriXion pens (and I do loooove to use them for jotting down this and that on paper):

I do not intend to freeze my quilts, and I don't intend to move to Alaska or Iceland and use my quilts outside.

But: At this point in time we do not know what the chemicals in the pens will do to our quilt in a few years. They may be perfectly ok, or they may destroy the fabric. At this point, we do not know.

We DO know that if FriXion pens are used on fabric, the chemicals will not wash out, whatever method of washing you use.

I do not know what exact chemicals are used in the FriXion pens, but they use 'thermoreactive dyes', and they always contain some or all of the following chemicals: Leuco dyes, spiralactones, fluorans, spiropyrans, and/or filgicides.

So, it's up to each of us. Personally, I will continue to use these pens on paper (what they were designed and developed for). For marking quilts I will use methods with a longer track records.

Kathy, You can do a huge amount with straight stitching and rows of decorative stitching. I used free motion on some of this, but not much. Even the shadow under the stairs are rows and rows of straight stitching. I used four different thread weights. This quilt is currently touring with 2014's Tactical Architecture that began in Houston. I suggest using either a dual feed, if you have it, or a walking foot on straight stitch quilting. But such stitching really must have good, solid marking. I really have found that nothing beats Crayola Washables, but, as I said, you DO have to wash or soak it off.

Beautiful quilt Betty Jo!
Pam

Sewdreamy wrote:
Awesome quilt! Has my head spinning with ideas. I'm trying to get better at free motion quilting, but this has mostly straight lines used to achieve wonderful effect.

Kathy

I have used Frixion pens to mark my quilting. I like them very much. Recently had one in a show that was all white background and used black Frixion pen. I like it because I can use the steam iron and "hover" over the quilt and not actually iron.
I am a student of Cindy Needham's design workshop and she recommends the Frixion in Blue or Black (of course, try on your fabric). She says to not use on Batiks.

Quiltbuilder
aka Joann Hopkins

I bought a Frixion Pen, paid quite a bit for it. Used it couple of times then didn't for several months. Next time I picked it up, it wouldn't write on anything. Too expensive to quit that fast.

I have purchased the Frixion pens, but haven't played with them yet. I'm thinking you could use them to include hidden messages on your project, which show with the temperature change..secret agent quilts, perhaps? I remember writing messages on paper in milk when I was a child, and after drying, when held over a lightbulb, as a heat source, the message appears. Or, use them as an additional signature on your quilt, which can't be easily removed. They are kind of a magical art supply.

When I went to Houston in 2011 I won a cute embroidered pincushion kit in one of the Schoolhouses. II decided to iron the fabric prior to embroidering as it was wrinkled quite a bit from folding in the package. I was very upset that the image disappeared! After thinking about it for a few minutes, I remembered hearing about these Frixion pens and wondered if it had been marked with a Frixion. I put it in the freezer over night and was very happy when the image reappeared, enabling me to embroider and complete the kit. After this experience, I wouldn't be using it on a quilt top....I just completed two quilts using the blue washable markers, both Mark Be Gone and Clover and they both removed completely in the wash. Remember, do not iron the blue marked lines as that will set the mark, just spritz with water and wash with cold water, no detergent or soap.

I purchased Frixion pens on the advice of a friend. Fortunately, I'm not as artistic as some of you, and being unsure of the product, I just made little registration dots for my quilting. I used a pen color that was a color in the fabric so not to stand out more than necessary. Especially since this wasn't my quilt. (Yes, I went all out and purchased every color.) In our quilt guild I had heard of issues with the Frixion pen and the cold weather so I decided to do some testing. Absolutely true. I wrote on a piece of cotton fabric, removed it with heat and that night placed it in the freezer. Bingo, the color returned. Did the same thing again and placed the fabric in the refrigerator. Back came the marks only not quite as strong. Again, I went through the process and placed the fabric outside in the cool air. The marks returned a little less. I just would not use this pen for major markings.