Nifty Notions – Fabric Marking Pens
August 23, 2023
Hi!
Today I wanted to review some of those quilting notions (namely fabric marking pens) that we can’t do without, and like anything – there’s a bunch of different fabric marking pens available out there. Some are good, some not so much, and some are fantastic!
We had a chat with Charlotte from Sewline and were so impressed with her range of quilting notions that we wanted to share some of them with you. Many of you will already use their products (think glue pen). I want to say too that I have no affiliation with Sewline at all – I just really like their products, and wanted to share my honest review of a few of them.
As Charlotte says,
“I launched Sewline in Australia and New Zealand at the end of 2008, having worked with Westek Corporation in Japan to create these innovative products for the international Sewing market.
Sewline products are now available across the globe – from Japan and Asia, Europe, South Africa and America. Westek is responsible for developing such well known writing instruments as Parker pens, Waterman and Papermate and other quality brands and have been able to bring this skill in manufacturing to the Sewline products range.
Our philosophy is to supply high efficacy, “clever”, quality products to crafts people around the globe. All are thoroughly tested and designed specifically for use with fabrics.”
Sewline Styla Pen & Sewline Aqua Eraser Pen
The Sewline Styla pen is a ceramic point washable blue fabric marking pen, and the Sewline Aqua Eraser pen is a great partner product.
The Styla pen has a ceramic rolling ball tip which is designed to glide over even fine fabrics smoothly, laying down an even spread of ink. It doesn’t snag on fabrics, and is really easy to use.
You just need to draw lightly – the ink starts a pale blue, then becomes a deeper colour after a moment on the fabric.
I had a scribble on some plain white fabric to try it out and found I did not have to go over any lines at all – they showed up clearly the first time.
The Aqua eraser is fun! It has a replaceable fibre nib that transfers the water from the reservoir in the middle of the pen to neatly go over any lines you draw with it. This is perfect for precision erasing, rather than wetting a whole area at once.
The reservoir is easily refilled with water, and the nibs are replaceable too should they become stained with use.
As you can see – it’s easy to direct the water with the pen to just erase lines that you want, and this precision means you’re not accidentally washing away those lines you do need to keep!
Once dry, the lines are completely gone and you’re ready to get stitching. Like with any blue erasable pens, ironing may set the ink – test it first.
You’re going to love these pens – especially for marking any quilting designs, or for tracing stitcheries.
Sewline’s Stayer Pen
Another fabric marking pen to check out is Sewline’s Stayer Pen. We gave it a good test too, and it did just that!
This is a 0.5mm fibre point permanent marking pen, with a black brown ink.
We tested it on fabric, paper and template plastic. In all cases it was easy to use, and the ink flowed smoothly.
With a larger size nib than I usually use, it was nice to see that it didn’t bleed on the fabric at all, but made a clear well defined line. This will be perfect for writing details on my quilt labels.
It was just as good on the paper – always a plus when drawing up stencils!
Probably my favourite use though for this fabric marking pen is for marking stencils. It went on the template plastic very easily, and I was thrilled that it didn’t smudge or smear straight off either, as so many of these marking pens seem to do.
The lines went on and stayed clean and crisp, and this will be a very handy pen for marking more intricate details on stencils. (Like for labelling templates, fussy cutting registration marks, marking right side/wrong side and directional markings that we need from time to time.)
Like I said, this is just a quick look at a few fabric marking pen options from a quality brand, that I like and personally use. They have a purple air erasable pen too, and several pencil and ceramic lead pencils that we’ll look at later.
These are all readily available through your local quilt shop, or online if you do want to give them a go for yourself.
Enjoy your week!
2 responses to “Nifty Notions – Fabric Marking Pens”
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It’s always good to have a review of products.
I think I will try to find these items the next time I am in my quilt shop.
Thanks so much for sharing.
Thank you, Jody for introducing us to new Sewline products. I will definitely look for on my next visit to the local shops.