Pattern Markings

Pins, tailor's tacks, pencil, notches... whatever suits the fabric and pattern!

And don't forget soap slivers. They have their place, too.

What exactly are soap slivers and how are they used?

TIA Cookie

"Mel>>

They're the remnants of used bars of bath soap, worn flat and thin. You use them to make marks on fabric (usually colored fabric), just like you'd use tailor's chalk. The marks wash away with the first laundering, or can be removed by wiping with a damp cloth.

Kathleen

And they usually keep a thin edge better than tailor's chalk. I keep a couple of soap bits in the sewing room all the time and use them more often than chalk.

Jean M.

edge clips for things like ends of darts; a sewing machine needle pulled through a fabric it won't damage for pocket placements (I use 1/2" in from the tip of a dart, or 1/2" toward the center and 1/2" down for pocket placement). Otherwise tailor's chalk, almost always plain white; waxy tailors chalk for woolens only. And tailor tacks.

Everything in sight.

Well, I hardly ever cut a notch -- a teensy snip does the job. I'm more likely to use a tracing wheel and dressmakers' carbon when the fabric co-operates. Or I may darn in a bit of basting thread.

I don't use the self-erasing marker much, because I'm easily distracted. The rub-it-off-with-a-damp-rag pen is in constant use, as is the white marking pencil, the chalk pencil, blackboard chalk -- I still have a package of real chalk; I gather that current blackboard crayons aren't real rock and don't wash out.

Graphite pencils don't wash out, but also don't rub off or bleed -- good for marks that get trimmed off or end up inside seams.

Straight pins. Safety pins, particularly when I want to mark a garment while I'm wearing it.

Put a straight pin into the fabric on one side, and rub it with a pencil or chalk to transfer the mark to the other side. I just used that with black interlock that was too thick and soft for the tracing wheel: I put a pin through the mark on the pattern, rubbed the underneath fabric with a white marking pencil, peeled the pattern back, stuck the pin back in, using the pencil mark as a guide, and rubbed the upper layer of the fabric.

Pinch in a crease, or draw with a not-too-sharp edge.

Tailor's tacks and thread marking.

For more details than you really wanted to know:

Thank you for your input everyone!

I'm more likely to use a tracing wheel and

A word of warning when using a tracing wheel and dress makers carbon. Be sure your rotary cut is put far, far away. I picked mine up by mistake not to long ago. I had forgotten to put the safety shield over the blade and ended up slashing my fabric rather than marking it. I was not a happy camper. Juno