Marking fabric for darts and pocket placements never installed confidence in me. My marks were never clear. It was like a guessing game half the time where that dart point was exactly. Sometimes marks would be worn off by the time I got to the sewing machine. I found thread tacks a bother. Seriously trivial, pity party material which is why I never looked hard for a solution.
A few months ago I bought a box of triangle shaped tailor’s chalk in all different colors and found them easier to use then all my other marking tools so I’m not sure why I purchased Clover’s Chaco Liner Pen Style. I’m glad I did though because I’m feeling like my marks are ready for competition (if there was such a contest).
The pen, and it really feels like a slightly chunky pen in your hand, lays down a line of powdery ink (I thought it was chalk but Clover calls it powdery ink) with the same pressure as a pen on paper; nice and smooth. Unlike marking pencils it doesn’t get stuck in the grain of the fabric. It leaves a thin accurate line and enough, if not all, of the mark stays visible on the fabric by the time you get to your machine (a couple days in my case).
While using I did notice that the pen must be vertical to work. No slight angle like you would normally hold an ink pen. Also, the little wheel that lays down the line (instead of a ball in a writing pen) can only go one direction. This means no back and forth motion and sometimes I had to turn the pen around in my hand to go but I did not find this troublesome just something to get use to. The pen can not make a dot. My solution was to make an “X” and the intersection of the lines was my dot. Usually I do not transfer dots. Instead I snip into the seam allowance where the dot lays for marks like bottom of zipper or where the top of the sleeve lines up with the shoulder seam.
Apparently the pen is easily refillable (we will see) and it comes in white, blue, silver, yellow, and pink. I bought it on Amazon for $7. The label information does warn it can only be used on washable fabrics and may not come out of some fabrics. I used the white pen on black cotton lawn and had no trouble.
I sincerely recommend this marking tool. After I’ve used it more I’ll update the post to tell you how I still feel about it.