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Can't get chalk out


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I have marked a quilt with yellow chalk and the marking has been on there for about a month. Now that I\'m finished I can\'t get the chalk out. I\'ve tried vacuuming, brushing and using a damp cloth. Nothing has worked! Do any of you have any suggestions? I want to iron it but afraid that will set the chalk forever.

Thanks,

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Shana, thanks for getting back with me. I have a refill that I haven\'t opened yet. It\'s Clover brand yellow chalk for the Chaco Liner Pen. I\'m going to try the baking soda. Do you use cool water? And do you put very much soda in?

Thanks,

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Mary Lou...I hate to be the bearer or bad news, but the yellow quilt pencil and the yellow clover chalk gizmo....are a bad thing. IF you get it out you have done good....I know several women who have tried and they still can\'t get it out. For some reason the yellow sticks and won\'t release from the fabric..... Chalk is bad, but that yellow pencil will NEVER come out.

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Okay, I used cool water and quite a bit of baking soda. I used a white wash cloth and got the yellow line fairly wet and rubbed gently. I have high hopes that this is working. I\'m letting it air dry right now. It looks like it may be working I\'ll let you know. I emailed the Clover company, I hope they get back with me.

What kind of markers do you all suggest? Especially, when they might be on the quilt for a while. When you do whole quilts do you mark them first? If so, they probably have the marks on them for a while too, right?

Thanks Shana for the baking soda idea. And Bonnie thanks for the heads up on the yellow pencil and chalk.

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Have you heard of Fels Naptha soap? I have found it will remove stains nothing else will. I have had a bar of it for 15 years and it has saved me on several occasions. I don\'t even know if you can find it any more, but I got mine at Sav-On drug store. I would look in a place like that. Apparently the soap has been around at least 100 years.

Karen

Spiderlegs Quilting

Liberty

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Fels Naptha soap is a petroleum based product...it is a good thing laundry pretreater, but be careful of it....as it can fade the fabric...I know we used it on the ranch for everything from bug bits to getting tar out of dad\'s jeans.

Fels Naptha Soap is a fantastic stain remover and pre-treater. It works especially well on oil-based stains. Just rub the stain with a wet bar of Fels Naptha Soap. Let it sit for a while and launder as usual. It works great on baby clothes which have formula stains.

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I threw out the yellow Clover chaco liner after marking 1 stem on an old 30\'s quilt, it wasn\'t coming out at all. Good luck with it! I don\'t use the blue either, it can do the same thing. I try not to have to mark and if I need to then the customer gets a sheet with info about the marking tools and a waiver to sign. My favorite and most used marking tool is just plain old white school chalk and I vacuum it out as I go so it doesn\'t get press in rolling the quilt.

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Originally posted by quiltmonkey

Can I ask a silly question?

Why do manufacturers sell this brand yellow pencil if it does not come out and is not easily removed from fabric? Why would one sell it then? Seems scary to me! Especially people like Mary Lou who's trying to do her job... :(

I'm not sure but if memory serves me right...the yellow pencil and the yellow chalk were noted that they were more for the dress maker than us quilters.

They are to be used for marking darts and tacks....and after reading the packages I do believe they say it doesn't wash out well....and to use sparingly. But can't remember for sure..its been a LONG time since I bought them...but do know it was because they didn't come out that I stopped.

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Peg your safe...the blue pencil is what they are talking about, not the blue water soluble marking pen... Just soak for a few minutes in plain cold water...agitate for a few minutes and then you can add the soap and softner....the quilts need to be totally soaked to get the blue out.

If you want to remove as you sew...put some Baking Soda in a spray bottle and add water and spray and remove as you go...

If you can set your machine to agitate with the lid open and then it will stop at the rince cycle...then I turn it back to restart and then add the soap and softner. I have never had a problem except once when I didn't pre-wash the reds I used...it was a mess but all came out in the end. If you have a machine that doesn't do this or is a front loader...let it run a complete cycle with just plain cold water and then if you decide to go back and rewash with soap and softner.

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When you have tried everything try this. I also had blue chalk stuck. Biz bleach. it is a non chlorine bleach. Make a paste and rub it in let it sit for a day. Wash in hot water (yes it will shrink the quilt). I did this and then had to actualyy use a lot of biz and scrub then let it sit for several days wound up so it didn't dry. It came out. I will never use chalk again. I hope it comes out before you get to this last resort.

Melora

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I would test it on a piece of scrap fabric and wash it....just to make the test harder....make two marks ( I would circle each with something that you know will not come out like a sharpie pen...one which you have ironed and one that isn't....do a load of laundry ( I know that is a bad word here also) and see what it does....

The ironed one will show what happens when its left in the fabric for a length of time as the heat will set it like a quilt that has been marked for several weeks or months....the other one will show how it reacts to fresh markings.

Let us know what happens.

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Okay all, I'll let you know how my quilt came out. You just won't believe this. I took Shana's suggestion and used baking soda and water to get the yellow chalk out. I did this on the table not in the machine. The chalk came right out!! DH & I were smiling and doing a happy dance. I forgot all about also making some dashes with the purple air-solluble pen too!! AND THEN, AND THEN, as the quilt was drying, alas, what should appear out of nowhere but purple dashes everywhere!!!!!!!!!!! Now, how to get rid of these? I used Oxi-clean with a Q-tip on each dash. This was a full afternoon work getting rid of these. But it did work! When I ironed it there were still a some places that flashed purple but faded as they cooled.

I emailed the Clover company that made this chalk. They apologized for my inconvenience and said to use 5 parts water and 2 parts vinegar to get the chalk out and let AIR DRY. Do not put in dryer.

Bottom line, my customer picked up the quilt tonight and just loved it!! I didn't tell him about my issues but told him if he had any problems with anything to just let me know.

Now, back to my happy dance.

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Heavy sigh of relief! I love happy endings! ;)

PS: I learned about the baking soda/water trick from my MQS class with Kim Brunner. She says if you use chalk (or any marking pen, pencil) to use it sparingly-very light touches with the chalk and pen - just enough to see a wee bit of registration line to reference.

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  • 11 years later...

Hi. Had same issue with Cover Chaco Liner.  Do not use any heat or vinigar solutions as this sets the colour pigment.  I was able to remove the stain  with  “Folex” a carpet spot remover.   Just spray on, agitate lightly by rubbing finger nail over area and plot dry  with paper towel.   I suggest to test this on a same piece of scrap fabric with batting first.   It worked for me as i had the pink lines left on the white fabric patch.

 

BB99E153-1668-43E6-98D0-7CFA1F270B4E.jpeg

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  • 1 year later...

Has anyone tried to refill their Clover Chaco pen with cornstarch instead of chalk? I haven’t tried it but I’m thinking it may be easier to remove with a quick machine wash or a vacuum....I love the Chaco pen for marking, but not a fan of the stubborn difficult to remove  chalk.. Needing to refill my pen at this time while I wait for my order to arrive..  

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