Disappearing Ink Pens for the Sewing Room

These disappearing ink pens are among my favorite tools. I go through several of them every year. I use them to trace around a pattern directly on to fabric for cutting. I also use them to mark stitching lines like darts, fly-fronts, or even quilting lines. It is great for marking match points in the middle of a piece. I rarely make tailor tacks or sew-baste thread markings.

In this picture, you can see how well the line shows up, even on difficult to mark fabrics like blue. This drawn line came from a pen that is nearly dead (I use them until they are dead). It works on most light to medium colored fabrics. It has difficulty with anything that is pink, red and of course black. For those colors I whip out chalk pencils or soap remnants (soap usually works better). I have used these pens on a variety of fabrics from silks, satins, laces, flannels, broacloths, to denims. I use them on personal projects and in industry settings.

The back of the package says to test on fabrics before using. I have had very few problems with the ink not disappearing. If I were to topstitch a fly, I may test it. The last pair of pants I made, the fabric had a finish on it that prevented some of the ink from disappearing. But it all came out in the wash. I wouldn't iron over the ink until it has completely disappeared - the heat/steam from the iron may set it. It would be rare for the ink to become permanent. Most of my ink lines are from tracing around pattern pieces, so they would never be seen anyway. The package states the ink disappears within 24-72 hours. I find it disappears much faster than that, especially when exposed to air. The age of the pen also determines how long the mark will last.

I have difficulty finding this exact pen in the fabric stores. They carry disappearing ink pens, but they don't work as well. For some strange reason fabric stores (the ones near me) carry Dritz marking pens, but not this one. This pen is from Dritz and I can be ordered from Amazon.

Knitting a toddler sweater and a book review

My current personal project is this toddler sweater. I obtained the yarn from a local thrift store. It is a soft, creamy yellow synthetic yarn and surprisingly very soft. There is enough yarn to make not only a sweater, but also a hat and mittens. I am currently working on the sleeves. I like to knit both sleeves at the same time so they both turn out exactly the same. Shouldn't be much longer and I will have this finished up.



The pattern came from the book The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns by Ann Budd. I love this book! You just choose your yarn, needles and knit a gauge swatch. Once you know your gauge, you use her charts to knit up a sweater. The sweater is rather plain and I would like to add some embroidery to dress it up - just not sure what yet.

I don't have an intended recipient for this sweater - it will probably go to charity.

Hawaiian Paradise Line pt. 2 : The Singer Ruffler Attachment.

As a part of this project, I have utilized a new attachment for my sewing machine. It is not really new - I acquired a couple of these for about 50 cents from a thrift store years ago. But I have never really needed it. I just thought it might be useful one day. Finally, I DID need it and it IS useful.

Let me introduce the Singer Ruffler. This attachment makes pretty ruffles, tucks or pleats. I am primarily using it for gathering the skirts of my Hawaiian sundresses and it has saved me loads of time.



Since I am a newbie to this attachment, I did break several needles. There is not a lot of clearance under the attachment for fabric. Because of this, it is difficult to tell if the foot is actually all the way down against the feed dogs. My needles were breaking because I had not lowered the lift lever and my needle was hitting the gathering blade. With it properly lowered, there is plenty of clearance for the needle and less needle breakage. It was one of those Duh! moments. Now I double check everytime in lowering the lift lever and attachment before sewing.

Another difficulty with my attachments occurred because they had not been used in a long time. A couple drops of oil at all of the moving points loosened things up and everything slid like it should.

Technically, I should be able to gather and sew my skirt to the bodice at the same time. I didn't do that this time. I am jumping from one size to the next and I have to adjust the gather ratio each time. Plus I am still a bit nervous because of all the needle breakage. But as I become more comfortable, I will give it a try!

I did a quick net search and discovered these attachments (in one form or another) are still available for purchase for about $50, for many machines. But before dropping that kind of cash, check out thrift stores, ebay, etc for the exact same thing at a lower price.

If anyone is curious, I am sewing these dresses on a vintage Singer 503A Rocketeer and a Babylock Evolve. While this is not an industrial set-up, it is working amazing well. One of these days I will be able to afford and find space for a couple of industrial machines.

I would love to hear from anyone else who has used this great attachment!