Tool Review: Quilter's Select Self Erase Marker

Here's my review for the new quilt marking pen that I bought, it's a Quilter's Select Self Erase Marker. I decided to try and use it to mark the Economy Block corner squares during the BAM meeting on Saturday.

It makes a nice dark purple line,  not too wide as the tip is quite finely pointed.

I only used it to mark this one group of squares, as I noticed that the lines started disappearing rather quickly during the course of the meeting. I just used a pencil for the rest. Good thing, because two days later here's how it looked. It does say it disappears in 1-7 days depending on the fabric and conditions. So, for my purposes and conditions, the marking would have had to be for nearly immediate use as this fading was within an hour. Pre-washed cotton fabric, no ironing, in a non-humid, fairly cool room. If I'd used this to mark all 30+ Economy Blocks, I would have been bummed when I went to sew them on Monday.

Then when I ironed, with a steam iron, I found that the marks that had remained came back a bit stronger, even going through to the right side of the fabric.

That's not going to work, well maybe it would disappear on its own after a few days.

This is where the self-erase part comes in with this marking tool. At the other end of the pen is an "eraser" which does not just using friction like the Frixion, there's a shiny-ness that comes out, a liquid of some sort, maybe a solvent. I'm just guessing here. There wasn't a smell or anything.

The eraser worked well at removing the marks, but if you zoom in, you can see the liquid along the edge where the marks previously were. Will these marks come back if I iron it again? Will the liquid marked edges dry without staining or residue?

Here's how the block looks a couple days later. No eraser residue apparent at all and no marks. 

I steam ironed the block to see if any marks or residue reappeared and...nope! It looks fine to me. 

On the product website they have this instruction: 

• You need to test the mark & ironing it on all fabrics before you do final project.
• After marking, if it needs to be heated/ironed, treat with clean water to prevent discoloration.
• 
  
• I suppose I should try rinsing with water next time. So...I guess I end up mixed on recommending using this one. I think that I prefer the disappearing Sewline pen, but this one is worth trying again to see if different conditions change how it performs.

 

Appointments to Shopping

I had some time to kill between appointments yesterday so I ended up at Golden State Quilting. It is located dangerously close to my doctor's office. Was that a subconscious reason I chose that particular doctor? Perhaps. Here's a group shot of what I bought on steering wheel. How do you like that kinda wild-eyed cartoon/caricature of Eleanor Burns? 

And here's a more spread-out version of my haul at home in better lighting. Five FQ's,  three of which will end up in the Bohemian Wife quilt as they are Kaffe Fassett Collective prints, a new quilt marking pen from Quilters Select, A smaller wool pressing mat to use at Sew Day and retreats. I bought a Jaybird Quilts pattern, Northern Lights to use with the mini Hex-n-More ruler, mostly based on the fact that they have one made up and displayed and I really want to make one with my own hand-dyes.

Clover Quilting

Thankfully I got a jump on ironing a backing fabric for the Clover Pillow right before the power went out (again) . Then I steam ironed it really well, thinking it was a fusible batting, nope. Out came the bucket o' safety pins and I was ready for stitching. I used a Hera marker to mark some diagonals.

The walking foot cah-chunked away. I always have to get used to the sound of it all over again. So ratchety.

Here's how it is looking after a few diagonals and all the other big seam lines stitched down.

I've got to think on how to accentuate these star-ish shapes between blocks, because that's my favorite part. They remind me a bit of those atomic mid-century star shapes.

I started out with the orange thread first, but I may add in some other colors.

Maybe some curving lines to highlight those stars? We'll see.