Sunday, January 31, 2016

Testing Washable Markers on Fabric

 

I'm starting a Craftsy Class for doing Ruler Work in Quilting.  This type of quilting requires some quilt marking before you sew.  As usual, the washable fabric marking pens designed and marketed to quilters are expensive, and don't seem to last long ...   I thought why not try the Crayola washable markers designed for kids?  I picked these up at the local Fleet Farm for under $3.  That's right -- a whole box of washable markers that I want to use for marking quilts.

So I did a test by marking fabric above ...  Then I threw it in the wash with a regular load of laundry, with the result that the markings washed out perfectly clean.  Voi la!







The black was done in indelible ink, which I did not expect to wash out.  Further, this piece was pressed with a hot iron - a test to show the marks won't come back with heat.  They did not!

The black was done in a Sharpie that I expected to be permanent, and NOT wash out.

Further, this swatch was left in below-freezing temps for 3 days to test weather cold temps would cause the marks to reappear.   No marks reappeared with cold. 

4 comments:

The Idaho Beauty said...

For Pete's. sake...

Vicki W said...

I use washable markers all the time. I love them! Thanks for doing the extra testing!

The Idaho Beauty said...

Have had a thought - question: how long did the markers sit before you washed them? Did you iron them before washing? These are the things that turned out to be the nemisis of many quilter specific washable markers. If they have been on the fabric too long (i.e. months to years) they refuse to come out. If you have to apply heat for some reason, that can sometimes set them too. So since I've never looked at these before, does the packaging say anything about those two things?

Michele Matucheski said...

You raise some good points. I can certainly do some more testing -- letting the markers sit longer, ironing them BEFORE attempting to wash them out.

With kid-designed markers, I don't think they worry about ironing or waiting for years to wash them out. No mention on the packaging.