Let’s face it, not everyone likes working with chemicals of any kind. Some have sensitivities or allergies to contend with. I consider my self fortunate that I don’t fall in that category. Some just prefer not to use pens, pencils, crayons, etc on their fabric. I have some solutions for that.
Ground Cinnamon
A plus here is the smell. Fill your sewing space with the scent of cinnamon and you may never need your kitchen again. Will brush or wash off. In my previous post, I talked about Ultimate Pounce Powder. You can add a pinch of cinnamon to that powder on very light fabrics.
Old Fashioned Bar Soap
Make sure that it is plain, unscented and is free from oils. You can cut off slivers to use for marking. The soap easily washes away. I have had soap get on my iron; if that happens, wait until your iron has cooled off and simply wipe away with a damp rag.
Last for today is a Hera Marker. The edge of it is sharp (not like a knife so you won’t hurt yourself) . It leaves an indent in your fabric. This will not show up if you mark your fabric on a hard surface, so it’s not the best choice for some applications. When marking a quilt sandwich, the batting gives the squish you need so the lines show up. When marking pieces of just fabric, I use my ironing surface or lay on top of a piece of batting.
My eyes are not the best, so I sometimes struggle to see a Hera Marker line. I have found if I turn down, off, or cover my sewing machine light that I have better visibility. (My lights are LED, if yours are not, I strongly discourage you from doing this as it could be a fire hazard.)
That concludes my organic choices. Have you tried any of these options? What were your experiences? If I haven’t touched on a something that interests you, don’t worry, there’s a few more techniques yet to be explored.
