Mark Quilt Top with Press 'n' Seal

Ella's self-portrait, heavily free-motion quilted

When Deep In December won an honorable mention at The LaConner Quilt Fest, the reviewers wrote that the composition and construction were good, but the free-motion quilting needed help.  Since then I've been working on my free-motion techniques.  Working on little practice squares just doesn't do it more me.  I need the tension of working on a real quilt to push my skills along.

So, I've made a couple simple quilts that rely on the quilting to be effective, including this one I made from my granddaughter's drawing of herself.

Marking the quilt top is one of the challenges.  Mostly I've used a blue, water-soluable pen, which is OK if the finish quilt top can be wetted, and if the fabrics aren't too dark, though I swear, I have ghosts of blue pen in spots on my quilts. 

Advantages of Press'n'Seal
 Recently I've been experimenting with Glad's Press 'n' Seal.  I like it for these reasons:
1.  You can easily place the Press 'n' Seal over the design you want to copy, and trace it on to the Press'n'Seal.

2.  When finger pressed on to fabric, the Press'n'Seal stays put...even if you have to pick out stitches, it doesn't budge.

3.  After the stitching is done, the Press'n'Seal can be torn away.

Disadvantages
1.  Tearing the press and seal away from heavily stitched areas can be REALLY tedious.
2.  Some of the marked plastic may get trapped under the thread and be impossible to remove.

Press'n'Seal partially removed

Considerations
1.  Make sure the pen you use doesn't rub off because the smears can end up on your quilt, defeating the whole purpose of using  Press'n'Seal. 

2.  Chose an thin, permanent marker, and test the product by sewing through marked press and seal with white thread on white fabric.  Tear off the Press'n'Seal.  If you see any color on the white fabric or thread, chose another pen.  So far, my fav is an extra-fine Sharpie.

3.  Be wary of piling up a lot of thread on the Press'n'Seal, as you will inevitably trap some of the plastic underneath the thread.  If the plastic has dark markings and the fabric or thread is light colored, the ink on the plastic will show and be just about impossible to remove.