Monday, March 30, 2015

The Case Of The Disappearing Frixion Ink

Cathy at Quilted Works said I needed to try a Frixion Pen.
If she said I should try it, then of course I had to try it.

What the heck is a Frixion Pen?

I have no idea, but I had seen it mentioned on other blogs.

This one had an eraser. Well, it definitely doesn't erase off of fabric (I tried.)
Hmmm...so what does it do?


I heard it was good for drawing embroidery designs on fabric so since I'm getting ready
 for the Tea For Two blog hop, I used it to draw this cute teacup on some fabric.


I started to iron on some stabilizer to the back and checked to see if it was sticking.
Surprise! The ink had disappeared where I'd used steam.


So that's what this little Frixion Pen does! 
Since you can see I accidently drew the saucer part of the pattern over the spoon,
all I have to do is steam it off when I'm through stitching. How cool is that!
(It would be cooler if I'd already stitched it before it disappeared...now I have to redraw it.)

I heard there is another Frixion Pen that is permanent and great for labels.
If that's true, I'll be checking that one out next!

Do you use a Frixion Pen?

Tea for Two starts tomorrow!
You can find more info at Sew We Stitch or Needled Mom.

18 comments:

  1. I have used Frixion pens for a couple of years now. Mostly for my stitcheries. I think they are great. Throw your fabric in the freezer and the design will show back up. No, really, it will! Or that's the way the ink worked when I first started using the pens. One caution, on slightly darker fabrics, after you iron it to make it disappear, a fine white line will sometimes be left behind. So you might want to test it on darker fabrics before you use it. Since I usually stitch on light fabric, the line is not a problem. I will have to look for permanent ones.

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  2. i use them, hope they don't vanish

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  3. I have used it to make marks for quilting. Works pretty good. My daughter did way when it got really cold that some lines did reappear on her quilt but a quick hit with the iron made them go right away.

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  4. I love these pens, but with cold, the lines will re-appear, unless you wash the finished project at the end 😄

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  5. Hi Carol,
    I don´t use them,
    but here in Germany are many discussions to the pen. Often the user told, that there came fine lines back after some time had gone. And a question stays, is this chemical good for our fine fabrics? I use the sewline ceramic liners,they are erasable, too and after washing is there nothing.
    Greetings from Germany, Andrea

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  6. I like frixion pens, and iron to remove the lines, heard about the freezer part though, but WHO freezes their quilts?

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  7. You can use the eraser on your frixion pen when you write on paper : erasing on paper creates 'heat' and by this frixion the ink dissapears... put the paper in the freezer and your ink is back. I use the pen for marking my quilting lines, when I am finished I iron and the lines are gone...

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  8. I've used them and like them, BUT I think you should do a test on the fabric first. I have had it come back, and come back and come back and I have had it stay gone......so test it out.

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  9. It's true about the marking coming back if the fabric gets cold. I used one to mark a quilt and when I took it to a football game most of the markings reappeared. When I got home I put the quilt in the dryer and they went away. So be careful.

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  10. Put it in the freezer Design will reappear. Then when finished stitching iron again to make any remain design marks dissappear. I have been using them for several years now exclusively for embroidering and marking fabrics. Works great to mark fabric if you are doing pleats. They look perfect every time.

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  11. I love using them, but you do have to avoid the heat. When I took a finished project with me to the snow the cold weather brought the lines back. With a little heat, they disappeared again.

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  12. Ditto what everyone else has said. I do use them and I love them for the right projects. The cold thing is certainly something I think about and don't use them on anything that I think will be exposed to the elements.

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  13. yes, they are very nice, but the ink will come back if cold...doesnt have to be in the freezer either...just stored in a cold place...like sun porch during the winter. Trailer in storage..etc. but , they do work well

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  14. They work great. And here in sunny California it doesn't get cold enough for the lines to come back.

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  15. You find test with review on the Internet: http://quiltingclimber.blogspot.nl/2011/07/frixion-pens-evaluated.html and http://www.freshlypieced.com/2013/07/frixion-pens-should-you-use-them-for.html.

    Love from Amsterdam

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  16. I hear if the fabric gets COLD the ink reappears. Kinda scary!

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  17. Yep... if it gets cold.. it will come back.

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  18. I've been using a Frixion pen for several years now and love it! All those verses I embroider on my quilts are written out with my Frixion pen first. Be careful though if writing on dark colors. It can bleach it out slightly so that you have faint marks when you finish.
    I normally wash and block my quilts after finishing, so I assume the residual ink washes out.

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