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thread or fabric pen for gridding?
what are your thoughts?
if a pen, what kind? are there color choices?

So far I've never gridded, although I do plan to try on my next big project.
My thoughts would be that with the thread it might be difficult to get out if it were stitched over without damaging the work, or to remove it as I went along might prove fiddly.
Of course, as I've never tried it, so that might not be a problem at all, but for that reason I think I'd either get pre gridded fabric or a pen for my first try at it.

I've tried stitching a thread grid on a previous project, and as TB already mentioned, found it very fiddly to remove it while stitching.

I've recently tried a gridding/fabric pen, and really I already don't know what I'd do without it. I'm not sure if there are colour choices, but to date I've only seen blue ones.

I have a blue fabric pen I used to grid for the first time on my Chinese phoenix. It comes out with just water!

I've only gridded once so far and I used ordinary thread. I'm considering investingin a washable fabric pen though, for future projects. If anyone can recommend one, I'd be very grateful.

This is the one I have ...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fabric-Marking-Pe ... 7C294%3A50

A pens a must for me as I havent the patience to do it with thread. It looks worse to do than backstitching

I use a pen and I love it. Since a pen isn't going to get in the way of your stitching and it washes right out I would use that instead of thread.

AWESOME.. I was trying to figure out gridding.. as I've never used grids before.. and I want so much to do a HAED.. get frustrated whilst doing it of course.. but I would LOVE to try one..

Anywho.. thanks for the good info.. I have lots of fabric pens with my sewing stuff.. not sure if the point is good on 'em so I'll just pick up another at the store..

I tried gridding with thread messy, and hard to pull out, so I scrapped that and got a washable fabric pen. Got mine at a nearby fabric store, light blue colour, the tip isn't very fine, but for the price ya can't complain, I saw other colour ones, but couldn't tell you what they were. Think the one I have was originally for quilting, but it works fine.

i <3 gridding w/ pen. doing it w/ thread seems so time consuming and fiddly...so when I do my haed I know I'll do it w/ a pen just being careful watching for bleeding.
i've only seen blue. DMC has some fabric pregridded that's red

I use a pen and wished I'd discovered them sooner. The one I use is purple and the make is "Chako Ace". It looks Chinese-made. My only quibble is that it fades too quickly, but the nib is quite fine and it really does wash out.

Im so glad I read this thread as I HATE having to grid with thread and try to take it out as I go which is very messy. I shall definately be investing a fabric pen for all future porjects... genius (I had never even considered this!)

Thanks for the tips i'll be getting one for myself too

I just came across this suggestion for gridding. Not sure if anyone else does it this way. I've never used a grid, but this one looks interesting.

Scroll to the very bottom of the page to see the section on gridding.

http://www.better-cross-stitch-patterns ... abric.html

I use a pink sewline pen. They're really REALLY good. Sewline pens are very much like those refillible pencils you can buy, as such you only ever need to buy one pencil, you can buy the colour refils in a variety of colours (Three examples below). Mine is a pink one. If both erases with the eraser on the end and it washes off too.



I find thread gets in the way when you sew, You either have to sew it in, or else you have to unpick as you go....Not a fan. My fabric pen is much simpler.

Cool... I so have to pick-up a fabric pen!

Do you mark the fabric with lines, like you would with thread? what about any effect on white floss?

It depends on the design, sometimes I draw lines like with thread, sometimes I just mark the corners of a 10x10 area. It's really up to you, what works best for you.

I've used them on white fabric plenty of times and if you don't press on very very hard, there's no ill effects. At least none I've found. The harder you press on, the harder it is for them to come off, but if you write lightly, it will just erase off. Write a little harder and you wash it. I love them, and am wanting to get more coloured leads ^_^

I use thread in an obnoxious color- usually a bright red or purple. I use long loose stitches- skipping over 6-8 boxes, but at the ends, I do a couple of box stitches to anchor.
I grid only around the middle unless the pattern is really spread out. I do the center lines, and one or two other lines 10 up and down from that. So my overall grid area is usually 30 x 30

I never used to grid at all, until I started on my current giant project. Then I decided I would go mad without one!

As for pens, I didn't even know you could do that until I came here! It looks like it could be great, I'm going to have to find myself one of those pens and try it out.