Perfect pens for sublime stitching and quality quilting
Alison Owens
The pattern for your Secret Society Pencil Roll was inspired by a trip to Tate Modern.
I just love pens, pencils, stationary and stickers . Yes I know another love! I first got the idea of the pencil roll from one I had seen in the book shop at the Tate Modern, one of my favourite shops. I use mine for my very special pens and pencils I use for quilting, I thought you might like to know what I use and love.
Perfect for precision – Propelling pencil
The fine and accurate line you get with this pencil is perfect for marking up and making your pieced blocks, no need to sharpen and the same sized line each time. With ordinary pencils that you sharpen, you get a discrepancy with the width of the line and this can affect your blocks. They don’t need to cost a fortune either, I go for bulk buy of the cheaper sorts from supermarkets.
Pigma Micron Pens
Pilot Frixon, red
Fabulous for faces
Pigma micron01
My Red, black and brown micro pigment ink pens are waterproof and fade proof and I love, love, love these pens. I use them for all my dolls faces and for signing my quilts . The ink will not fade and will be a permanent record of my quilts history. I do not let anyone else borrow them for writing or anything else as they are my special pens.
Chaco Pen
Heat transfer pencils
Easy to erase
Pilot Frixion, red
These pens have their place when working out my Redwork patterns, you can draw onto fabric and iron off the markings. However, they do have a few problems. The marks may come back if the fabric gets cold and I never use the black one as this can mark coloured fabrics so I only use them when I know a line is going to be stitched on. Also, you may mark up your work and press it before you get stitching and then all the marks iron off, very frustrating!!!
Quality for Quilting
Chaco pen (there are a couple of brands available)
Draws a fine pen line using powdered chalk that brushes away easily. I use this when marking up quilting lines on quilts, and when experimenting with how quilting lines may or may not look like. This is quite an expensive pen , but I miss it badly when I cannot find it!
Transfer your tracing
Heat transfer pencils (there are a couple of brands available)
Very useful pencil when you cannot use an iron on transfer or when using dark fabrics. You trace the reverse of the design onto the paper with the pen and then place the marked paper face down onto the fabric and iron. The disadvantages are that it is a permanent mark and the line is quite thick so you need to keep sharpening the pencil.
Magical Multiples
Iron on transfer pen fine tipped 5mm
Very new to the market and much better than the above pencil, which is used in the same way. The lines are still quite thick and it is permanent, but the marked design can be used more than once and of course because it is a pen you don’t have to keep sharpening it.
So, as you can see I have many different types of pencils and pens and I find the pencil case roll perfect to keep them neat, tidy and easy to find, it also protects delicate pencil ends from breaking off helping them to last longer.
If you fancy giving one or more of these pens a got then many of the ones I have talked about are available in our shop.
Download Mandy’s Perfect Pen & Pencil Tips for your Secret Society Notebook Here