Sewing room tools, Part 2: Marking

You can’t sew accurately if you don’t mark important points on patterns. But how do you safely make marks on fabric? There are lots of products you can try depending on what you’re marking, the type of fabric you’re using and the color of fabric.  

These are just the ones I have on hand in my sewing room. There are other types of marking products available, and if you use something I don’t show here, I’d love for you to share it in the comments below.

Part 1 of the sewing room tools series is about measuring and drafting, and can be found here.

Pencils, Pens and Chalk

The top row shows marking pencils. The one on the left has a brush to rub away the marks you make. The ones on the upper right are water soluble. I have blue and white, though other colors are available. These rub off with a damp cloth. 

The bottom row shows water-soluble fabric pens, one in blue for lighter fabrics and one in white for dark fabrics. These come in different colors, and some are water soluble and some disappear with time. Some even have two ends, one with each kind of pen.

I prefer the pens for most purposes, personally. I just think they mark with less effort than the pencils.

Above left is a chalk wheel with yellow chalk. You can find this in the quilters section. Above right is a piece of tailor’s chalk in white (also comes in other colors).
Here are samples of what each of the above looks like on the fabric. I find that the white pen doesn’t mark as well on dark fabric as the pencils or chalk. 

On the other hand, I prefer the blue pen to the blue pencil for the lighter fabrics. The yellow chalk works well on both light and dark fabrics.

Tracing wheels

There are a few types of tracing wheels. The ones at above left are used with tracing paper (I inherited this from my husband’s grandmother, who died at almost 100 years old a few years ago) and can be found in the notions section of most sewing stores. One of these is smooth and one is serrated, which create solid and dotted lines. 

The one at top right is more of a specialty wheel and can be purchased online from pattern supply retailers. It’s used with foam board to punch holes in paper as you trace. It’s great for tracing an existing garment onto paper. It punctures through the fabric and makes a dotted, serrated line on the paper underneath. Most fabrics don’t show any damage from the wheel when tracing. Just lay the foam board down, then the pattern paper, then your garment. I have purchased pattern making supplies from South Star Supply.

Another way to trace pattern markings onto your fabric is to use tracing paper and tracing wheels. Tracing paper comes in lots of colors so you can pick one that will show up on the fabric you’re using. 

It’s best to trace onto the back of the fabric, but you shouldn’t have any trouble removing the tracing paper marks from most fabrics. In the top right photo, you’ll see I have the tracing paper right side up at the bottom (red), then the fabric, also right-side up (so the tracing paper is marking on the back of the fabric), then the pattern piece. Then simply run your wheel along it. (I am pretending to mark something here, but it’s obviously not something you’d really mark on a pattern.)

At left, if you click to open the picture bigger, you can see the types of lines each type of wheel gives you.

To use the needlepoint pattern tracer, you place the foam board down first. It’s available at any craft store. It’s spongy, so the points of the wheel can go all the way through the paper above and enter the foam. 

On top of your foam board, place your pattern paper and then the garment above that. Then trace your seams. You also use this during patternmaking to trace your pattern changes from your test garment to the paper.