Tip of the Morning Tuesday~ Marking Pens

It's been a very long time since I posted a new tip, even though I have had a few to share with you. So I thought I best share one now before I forget this one.

Before the Covid-19 started I was in Target and looking around the store. I had received a gift card in December, so I wasn't sure what I wanted to buy. I did buy some much needed computer paper and while I was in the office supply section of the store, I noticed Frixion now had highlighter pens too that were erasable (or removed with heat like an iron). They came in a package of 5 pastel colors: pink, lavender, mint green, yellow and pale blue.

Now thinking of using a highlighter on paper and being able to erase the highlighting because you might have highlighted the wrong thing or if it's a school or library book that you wanted to highlight for finding something easier when you are studying and then are able to remove the highlighting later makes sense. But I wondered how many would buy a highlighter that could be removed later? Isn't the point of highlighting so you can zero in on that word, sentence or paragraph faster? So I wondered why you would go through the trouble of highlighting only to remove it (except in the scenario I mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph). But as a quilter and a bag maker, I knew the gel Frixion pens were a big hit as we can make marks one fabric and then iron over them to remove the marks later. I tried the gel pens and while they worked, marking on dark fabrics left a ghost line of white that doesn't come out with an iron. Not sure if it can be removed completely with washing? So after that experience, I decided I would only mark within a seam line and not mark lines down the center of a bag, because it leaves a ghost line on dark fabric and on light fabric in cold climates the lines can reappear. (Try this by putting in the freezer).

But the highlighter pens are a felt tip pen and softer to use and paler since they are pastel colors, so I decided to buy a package and try them on some of my sewing. What I found was they were good and easy to use when marking items such as fleece or foam that wouldn't be seen on a bag anyhow, but after marking and cutting could be ironed away. I like the felt tip too as it is soft and doesn't cut into cotton fabric like the gel pens can, but because it is a highlighter, it has a chiseled tip, not a pointed or rounded tip. I like using Paper Mate Flair felt tip pens for writing on paper because I like the soft tip. I cannot use fine tip ball point pens because I tend to tear the paper using fine points and I hate how they scratch the paper when writing. I prefer wide ball point pens or felt tip pens to write with. So now that I have used the Frixion highlighter pens, I started to wonder if Frixion also makes a regular felt tip pen? I think a felt tip pen would be a bigger hit in the sewing community. Well I just did a search and what did I find? Marking pens!

So while my tip was to share the highlighter pens and tell you why I liked them for marking on some fabric, I just bought some of these Frixion Marking Pens. Once I use them, if I have any issues with them I will let you know, but I am certain they will work so much better than the gel pens.

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