Crayola washable markers......

I only used cotton; mostly not washed cotton. I used the bright green. I washed in cold water - no detergent at all. It came out the first time. But you've already answered your most important question; test, test Test! I didn't leave the Crayola markers on longer than maybe overnight. I didn't allow the iron or Mr. Sunshine to bake it - and - it didn't much matter. I was only doing a preemie quilt and some visible marking wouldn't have mattered much. If you are creating something very special, please do test thoroughly beforehand. My own disaster with markers went this way - I marked an embroidery piece with a pricey 'wash-out' blue marker. I left it in the car many times when we were on vacation. It got sunned and baked. The marks turned a dark, Permanent brown. The piece was a primitive sort of embroidery, Rules for Teachers, and the marks looked intentional but it could have been total ruin. Please test. Please do let us know what you tested and how it went. Polly

I've only used the markers on small pieces so far (I prefer to quilt larger pieces without marking.) But the marks (blue) easily came out in lukewarm water in the kitchen sink. Don't think I had to use any soap.

The fabric was cotton, prewashed along with my regular laundry - I always prewash according to how I think the fabric might be rewashed later on - so I wash fabrics in warm water/reg detergent and then put them through the dryer to maximize any possible shrinkage.

As you might guess, I was doing the test run to see if I might use them later. And so I have (my one and only) hand quilting project marked with these markers....of course if the the lines don't come out after MONTHS of storage then I figure it's my fault for being so slow! LOL

Allison

Now, there's a first. You may be the only one of us who has washed a quilt in bubble bath. Giving a quilt special care is not totally unknown here but, oh my! Polly

I have used them a lot and on a lot of different fabrics, cotton and silk mostly.

Being a frugal sort I have used all of the ones in the package of 24, and all of the ones in the package of 20 with smelly ones. Unless it is a brand new kind of fabric that I have never used before, I select colors for highest contrast. Though in truth I use them on white more than colors. Just the way I tend to work. For marking quilts I tend to go back to chalk or clay pencils because I use a lot of rich tones.

However imagine you see before a vast expanse of white silk or cotton that covers a lot of the floor. Now imagine doodling all over it with the markers. I have used every color of the rainbow on these, tossing markers and grabbing new ones as they run out. Some of the markings get covered with silk paint or dye, some of them don't. I have never had a problem with the markers washing out completely.

Usually. Sometimes if a mark in inside an enclosed seam it takes an extra wash.

I usually prewash hot or warm, and after that wash cold. So the marks come out in cold water. Cleaning agent varies with the fabric and what has been done to it. Regular detergent, wool wash, shampoo, and synthrapol all take the marks out equally well. Washing by hand in plain cold water takes them out too, a bit of bubble bath (hey I was up against it!) helped get them out faster.

Always test a new thing!

NightMist now shopping for shag nasty, highly toxic, acetone or methylethylketone containing markers (gotta write permenantly on glazed leather)

Well, it wasn't a quilt it was about half an acre of white silk. I was out of wool wash and didn't want to use regular detergent on it. We were low on shampoo and the bubblebath was sitting there looking all innocent on the edge of the tub.

So the silk got a bubblebath. I don't recall if the scent was wacky watermelon, or silly strawberry.

NightMist

Thanks for the replies, I really appreciate it.

Always looking for easier/cheaper ways of marking. Those blue and purple markers are expensive! And I don't find they last very long, or mark very well on some fabrics. I never prewash my stuff and it is WAY too late to start now, I would have more than a few hundred metres to wash now in my stash and then iron and I am NOT doing that!

Of course I'll still keep every known marking tool known to man on hand but it is good to know there is an easy and cheap alternative!

At one time it was common for the labels of light (or even not-so- light) duty detergents to list bubble bath, or bathtub ring prevention, among their uses.

For people in Europe, check out Lidl's own-brand shower gel. It's amazingly cheap and contains very few additives - ideal as a shampoo for people with allergies, and you can use it where any sort of liquid detergent is needed. It works very well as a bubble bath.

Nearly all detergents/shampoos/liquid-cleany-gloops contain the same few active ingredients. The extras are unnecessary scents, colours and preservatives that simply make the stuff cost 20 times as much while making it more likely to irritate your skin and adding nothing to its effectiveness.

==== j a c k at c a m p i n . m e . u k === ==== Jack Campin, 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland == mob 07800 739 557 CD-ROMs and free stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, and Mac logic fonts

Yep. Since I know how to read I did. The ingredients on the bubble bath match up to the ingredients on the my shampoo, at least so far as the cleaning agents go. There was of course no sil protien, vitamin e oil and suchlike stuff in the bubble bath.

Come to think on it, I wonder if washing silk with a shampoo containing silk protien would be a good thing or a bad thing. I can see how it could easily be either. Another thing to research in this wide world.

NightMist

Then may I plug my own for those in North Amer.? You could use it as liquid detergent, but it's intended for foaming more than cleaning --

. Just diammoniumlauryl sulfosuccinate, lauramidopropyl dimethyl glycine betaine, anddisodium lauryl (ethyl ether)3 sulfosuccinate. Robert

Had a minor scare tonight. I'd made a little (for a 3 pound preemie, that's Little!) batiste gown. I used the Crayola bright green on pale pink nelona and at first I thought the markings weren't going to come out. I held it under running water, then I did some dipping up and down (and a panic or two), tried rubbing and kneading. It stayed. Waaaah! I dropped it in a bowl of cold water, reached for the soap and a soft toothbrush. When I picked it up to give it a scrub, the marks were gone. Lesson learned: stay calm. Polly

The Crayola website suggests rinsing in hot water if noticed before laundering. Then wash in hot water with detergent using the heavy soil cycle (about 12 minutes). If not completely removed soak in Biz or Clorox 2 for an hour and repeat the laundry cycle. In my experience, the color has always come out after one wash in warm water.

Julia > Had a minor scare tonight. I'd made a little (for a 3 pound preemie, that's

You mean you THREATENED to use soap on it, and that did it?

Well, yes. I guess the threat was all that was needed. So rare for me to get to scare anything; what a kick. Polly

You mean you THREATENED to use soap on it, and that did it?