pen for signing for quilt

I'm going to make DS#3's girlfriend a throw for her high school graduation. I'm going to quilt as you go and let friends and family at her grad party sign the back of the quilt with grad. wishes. (She is really a special girl....beautiful and valedictorian of her class....over 900 kids in the class.) Her grad party is next week. I'm thinking of securing the squares on cardboard with blue painters masking tape (I've used it before to secure for basting...removes easily) to make it easy to write on and also mask off the edges where I'll join the squares.

My question: what kind of pen do I use? I have a micropigmant archival ink permanant pen that I bought to do quilt labels with...would that be the pen to use? I'd pick up another to have two at the party.

I'm not proud or anything of her....

she looks like a lovely person... nice of you to make her a quilt...

texasmusicmom wrote:

My question: what kind of pen do I use? I have a micropigmant archival ink permanant pen that I bought to do quilt labels with...would that be the pen to use? I'd pick up another to have two at the party.

That would be the pen I would use. I like the .5 for writing text and the .1 for making designs. I have also just put the blue painters tape on the back of the area I want to sign (but if it is a block size then that would be a lot of tape). Sounds like a wonderful idea for a gift.
Beautiful pictures!

I did something like this for a co-worker who retired. The problem I ran into is that the public in general do not know how to use a pigma marking pen. So, by the fourth person the pen was ruined. I would get permanent marking pens with sharp points...they are less expensive, come in lots of colors, make a nice mark and won't wash or fade away.

Love the pics, pretty gal and handsome young man, you must be so proud! ok pens, well Id use what you are now, perhaps you could get some different colours for fun? The brand I use are pictured here, 3rd pic down, Millenium Zig pens, I can only get a couple of brands, Im sure you have a lot more available in the states. great idea, cant wait to see the quilt

I agree with Mamu. It's harder to ruin the cheaper permanent pens, although my DH does it regularly.

I had people sign the quilt for my firstborn's wedding. I just passed it around with the markers. That worked well. If you are doing raw fabric, you are right that it needs to be attached to cardboard or some such.

A beautiful young couple--you have every right to be proud.
Ahhhhhhhhh.......to be young again .

The pigment pens can be ruined easily if you press too hard and try to write quickly. Also it would help to use really smooth fabric to write on.

Lovely kids......it will be a great gift!

What a fun picture of two cute young people!! (I don't have any tips about pens - just had to chime in about the picture)

LOL...thanks QBee! Of course, DS is the best (along with his brothers....lol) and girlfriend is a lovely, considerate, smart young lady.....like I said...valedictorian of 900+ member class. She never fails to thank me for everything....even down to sending a text message thank you after she gets home from eating with us....got a happy mother's day text....etc. Her mother is also wonderful.....a real inspiration....has MS and is also a breast cancer survivor. You'd never know....volunteers all the time for the band and always has a smile on her face. Luckily her MS is under control right now. DS can hang on to her forever as far as I'm concerned! But...she is going off to Texas A & M in the fall....but it's only an hour away. DS has one more year in high school, so we will see.....

I decided to try some fabric markers.......bought some to experiment with....after hearing about the pens. Plus.....found some in colors that will look pretty on the pink back. (her fav. color)

I've been pondering how to secure the fabric to cardboard backing for signing.....I think I will use basting spray to secure it for signing along with blue masking tape for edges to keep folks from signing in seam allowances......
what do you think? Hopefully the chemicals in the spray won't mess up the fabric markers.

Just an update.....DS's girlfriend's party was tonight...just got home from it.

After reading all your posts....as I said, I went with the fine tip fabric markers....also found a gel pen for fabric at Hobby Lobby...tried it too and it worked very well. Cut the backing into squares....a cute varigated look pink with random small white dots.

I used quilt basting spray to adhere the squares to pieces of poster board. Used a water wash quilt marker to mark the margins.......it worked really well. The colors looked cute and the basting spray kept the fabric flat, fastened down, and easy to write on. When I left, kids were still writing messages down......and there were 6 or 7 empty squares (I made 30) for family and friends not there. I told her mom to keep them until after graduation to catch anyone else. She also is going to mail a couple to relatives. I left her a roll of the blue masking tape in case the spray lost it's adhesive quality, but I didn't need to use it. The spray said it only lasted 4-5 days....I was worried about the mailed ones.

So...so far so good...thanks for the advice everyone....keep the quilt spray in mind if you do one..it worked great.