Tuesday, July 14, 2020

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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6 comments:

  1. this is so interesting i have a love hate relationship with chalk it can be so messy and not show up on certain fabrics.
    thanks for sharing a very good tip i like how thoroughly you explored all the uses of these highlighters and pens.
    Tara

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  2. You are wise to only mark within the seam with Frixion pens. The manufacturer will tell you, they were not made for fabric marking and can leave that ghosting line you mentioned. I recently read an article from a quilter on these and she found (from the manufacturer) that they use two kinds of ink in the pens and one of them does actually stay in the fabric, thus causing the ghosting. Washing does not remove the ink either. There was some product they recommended to remove it, but required a lot of scrubbing, which she concluded would ruin the finished project. I do use them also occasionally within the seam lines, but not very much! Like you, I'm not sure why you would highlight something and then erase it, except in the example you mentioned! LOL

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  3. So did you find these last markers on Amazon? Very interesting!

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  4. Good to know! I love those pens but would not have thought to use the highlighters. Good thinking!

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  5. Great info on marking fabric with those pens...thank you!

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  6. Hi Daryl, I used the highlighters on a project and it did not erase out of the fabric. I find that the Frixion gel pens work ok except for that shadow on darker fabric. I'm now much more careful about using Frixion on fabric and I put the highlighters with my office supplies, away from the quilting stuff!

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