Pattern-Marking Methods

There are an array of marking tools available, but some tools and techniques are better for certain fabrics than others. So one of the most common marking techniques and transferring techniques for transferring pattern markings onto your fabric is this tracing paper. It's a paper that has this sort of chalky film on top. So it'll come off onto your fingers if you're not careful but it comes in different colors blue, red, yellow, white so that you're sure that the marks will show up on your fabric. So you use these papers in conjunction with this tracing wheel.

And if you have long lines or any kind of marks that you need to transfer onto your fabric, if you're doing it in a double layer you've got your two layers of fabric you're marking at once, you fold that paper in 1/2 so that the chalky side is touching each side of the fabric. Use your tracing wheel to just put some pressure and trace those lines, dots, whatever you need to mark. And then that will transfer onto your fabric, and if you put enough pressure it will transfer onto both sides of the fabric. And this transferring method is great for these tight weave cottons but it is not great for heavier weight bulkier fabrics, and some fiber contents just don't really wanna take this chalk mark. And with the heavier weight bulky fabrics, it's difficult to get enough pressure to push and get those lines to transfer onto the wrong side of those fabrics.

And if you have a fabric with a nap like corduroy or velveteen, velour, the pressure of your tracing wheel could actually even damage the nap on those fabrics. So you wouldn't wanna use this transferring method with those types of fabrics. Instead, a better bet would be to use tailor's tacks and these are really easy to do. You just need a hand sewing needle and a high contrast thread, a double strand of high contrast thread. And if you were to transfer like one of these dots onto your fabric, you just wanna take a stitch through the mark, through the center of the mark.

Don't knot the thread end, gonna leave a long tail at the end and then take another stitch perpendicular, so you have a nice cross hair, leave a long loop and then clip that loop, clip the thread and leaving a long tail and then very carefully pull that pattern off. And then if you're marking two layers at once separate your layers, making sure you've got equal amount of thread in each layer, you don't wanna pull out those threads all the way out. And then you've got your mark on both sides of your fabric, and you can just stitch right over those marks and then pull them out when you're finished. And you can do the same kind of technique with long lines like dart lines, just take a long running stitch, leave long thread tails and long loops between your stitches, clip the loops, and then it's the same kind of technique. Be careful when you're taking the pattern off, so that it doesn't pull those marks with it and then clip them between the layers, and then you will have those marks for your dart line.

So that is a great method to use for heavy bulky fabrics also for very delicate fabrics that you don't wanna use any other marketing method on if you're afraid that the marks won't come out or the marks will damage the fabric, these tailors tacks are a great method. So another common method for marking are these chalk pencils. And these aren't going to be transferring marks from patterns onto your fabric, but they're good for marking lines against your ruler, marking curves on the fabric and they come in different colors, so that you can find one that will show up on your fabric. And you can use a pencil sharpener on these, to keep the point nice and precise. Chalk also comes in different varieties, the chunk variety, this one has a little holder so you don't get chalk on your hands, and it has a sharpener in the cap.

And chalk also comes in this wheel variety and I love this type because it's got powdered chalk in it and it's got this tiny little wheel at the tip. So it lays down just the nicest, finest most precise line of chalk. And all of these chalk methods will erase out, if you just take a little bit of the fabric and kind of brush it against itself it'll also come out in the wash, or if you have a fabric eraser you can use that as well. These ones say wash out cloth marker, so those will go away in the wash as well. These chalk pencils are great for these tight weave cottons as well.

It is not great for like a knit fabric, because once you press hard enough to lay down the line on your knit it stretches the fabric out and you get ripples in your line and you're stretching your fabric out. So it's not a great marketing method for knits. For knits, you would probably want to go with a marking pen. So this is an air erasable fabric pen, so when you lay down a line of this pen you don't have to push hard at all, it just lays down the ink really, really nicely. The thing with the air erasable pen is after 15 minutes or a couple of hours, the mark just dissolves it just goes away.

So you can't mark your fabric and put it away for another day because then the marks will be gone. So you have to kind of work on it right then. And this is a water-soluble marker, and it also lays down a really nice easy line of ink and then it will dissolve with water. So, if you have a fabric that can go in the wash, throw it in the wash and it'll dissolve out or take a paper towel or a washcloth, get it damp and blot it and that should disappear. Definitely test these methods in an inconspicuous area on your fabric before you go marking, all of your project fabric with it 'cause you wanna make sure that they will remove completely in the manner that they're supposed to.

Some fiber contents just wanna hold on to that ink a lot longer and harder than other fiber contents that will just let the ink go. And you would not want to use this water-soluble marking pen on fabrics that you can't get wet. So some silks and velvets will mar with water, so you wouldn't wanna use this on that. And you can see I put these lines down, this air removable marker. This was days ago that I marked this and it still has not removed.

So I would probably not wanna use this on this particular knit because this fiber content just does not want to let go of those lines. So, hopefully this overview will help you decide what marking methods to use with your fabric.