Quilt Marking with Paper
Have you ever tried marking your quilt top using paper? I finally decided to give this technique a try and I was really excited by the results. Learn how to mark your quilt top with paper in this new video:
I’ve already received a lot of questions on YouTube about this process. Many quilters were wondering about other materials like freezer paper, wax paper, and press n’ seal wrap. Honestly I have no idea how these other materials will work so it’s up to you to test them out and let us know if they’re any good!
Ultimately I felt like the Golden Threads paper was the best for marking my quilt because I was able to slightly see through the paper which will come in handy for lining things up and making sure the design is properly placed.
I also liked this paper because it was easier to rip away after quilting. It tore cleanly away from the stitches without leaving lots of little tuffs of paper behind like tissue paper.
So what do you think about this marking method? Do you think this is easier to use than a light box or bright window? Does it seem easier to add an extra layer over your quilt rather than marking directly on the surface?
Please share your thoughts and experience in the comments below!
Let’s go quilt,
Leah Day
I find it much easier to mark through a stencil onto golden paper than using chalk onto fabric. Plus, like you said, golden paper is super easy to tear off the fabric.
Thank you so much for this video. I have been struggling to quilt realistic looking guitars into a quilt block. I followed the video and traced the design on to tissue paper and the quilted over it. Brilliant – tissue paper rubbed off fine. Now to practice with skulls! Quilt is for my music and goth loving son and new daughter in law.
Oh, I just have seen your video and I think that tissue paper looks like what we say "silk paper" and golden paper looks more than the oven paper!!!!! 😀
What is golden paper? Is it the paper that can be used in the oven? Or is it a thinner paper like the one used to pack fragile things (in Spanish called "papel de seda" (silk paper)?
When i first started quilting, i used regular old tissue paper from the dollar store for this. Works great!
I dont use paper anymore, but i do suggest those that are new give it a try. It Tears away really,well.
"Golden Threads Quilting Paper' has been a staple in my stash of supplies for years – it's terrific stuff! You might also want to try "Borders Made Easy" by "Quilting Made Easy, Inc." – they are "Adhesive Backed Patterns for Continuous Machine Quilting" – you position it on your quilt – stitch through it following the pattern and then remove the paper – ;))
Haven't tried this product, but I have tried tracing paper and press and seal. Both were a bear to remove, and I ended up using tweezers to get all the little bits of paper from beneath my stitches. It took hours.
Golden Threads is a brand that you can Google on the Internet.
Golden Threads is one of my favorite products, and a necessity for the quilted topographic terrain pieces I've been making for several years. (I would not have been able to develop this project without it.) You can trace the most complex designs on it with no worry of leaving any kind of residue (especially important for pieces that are not washed). You can color code your stitching with different markers. It's strong but tears off easily from your stitching. It's much, much, much more satisfactory than either tracing paper or tissue paper. I wouldn't be without it in my studio.
have you tried parchment paper? I was wondering if this worked as well as tissue paper since I already have a roll of it.
Are you still using this method at all? I was thinking it might help when walking foot quilting the whole cloth pattern…???
For something bigger than a motif, it will be easier just to mark the design onto the fabric instead of quilting over the paper. Paper doesn't bend and fold like fabric for one thing and it always leaves a little residue – tiny bits of paper stuck in the threads. For those two reasons, I'd mark the design on the fabric with a marking pencil for anything larger than 6 inches.