Great Markers For Quilt Labels

A review of EZ Permanent Fabric Markers from EZ Quilting

Click the picture to visit the EZ Permanent Marking Pens page

I'm always on the lookout for the best permanent fabric marker to use on my quilt labels. The extremely fine ones write well but are too fine for filling in designs. The larger points that fill in designs don't letter well.

I want a marker that is fine enough to write and thick enough to fill in details. And, of course, it has to be permanent - really permanent, even after washing.

EZ Quilting's EZ Permanent Fabric Markers seem to be what I'm looking for. The markers come in blue, black, green, orange, red, and purple.

Six Colors

The EZ blue, green, and purple are lighter and brighter than the other marking pens I compared them to. The red is a vibrant red, not a darker Christmas red.

The orange is bright and a medium orange, so it works for flowers, pumpkins, and insects. The black is a true black without green or blue undertones.

The EZ markers are like brush markers in that they easily fill in an area with good, solid color, not the streaked colors I had with some other markers. I colored some flower petals and leaves using the side of the point. The coverage of the white fabric was very good in large areas.

The pens can make very light marks if you use very little pressure. I found that holding the markers at the far end and laying them almost parallel to the fabric gave just the look I wanted - a nice shading of color. Then I used a lighter-color pen with more pressure to get a nice color blending and shading.

Clear Writing

If I held an EZ marker perpendicular to the fabric, I got a line thin enough to write legibly, even though it was among the thickest of the pens I tried. The writing was clear and the colors bold.

Best of all, the colors of the EZ Permanent Fabric Markers are true and intense, not faded or fuzzy-edged like other pens. And the lines don't run like Sharpies, which give the surrounding fabric a gray look.

Next, I tested the EZ markers for permanence. I drew a thin writing line and a thick coloring line of each color on a piece of Prepared For Dyeing fabric. I chose PDF fabric because I didn't need to pre-wash it and I like the nice smooth surface of its finer weave.

After drawing the lines, I cut the fabric into seven strips, each with a piece of every line. One strip remained unwashed for color comparisons. The other six strips I used in the washing test.

Wash Tests

I heat set three strips and left the others alone. I wanted to see if the colors held up if I forgot to heat set my label before washing.

For the wash test, I used hot water. I washed a heat-set strip and a non-heat-set strip in Dawn dish liquid, another pair of strips in Orvus quilt washing liquid, and the final pair in Tide with Brighteners.

All of the heat-set samples held their color well in all the washing products. The non-heat-set samples held up almost as well, with the exception of the green line in Orvis and Dawn. In those two washing products, the non-heat-set green line came out slightly lighter than it went in.

More Colors, Please

I like the wash results and feel comfortable using the EZ pens on labels for quilts that get thrown in the washer. I like the bright and rich colors. And I like the coverage I get using the EZ Permanent Fabric Markers.

The only drawback is that there are only six colors at this time. I'd like to see yellow, brown, hunter green, gray, lilac, and teal in the next set.

With EZ Permanent Fabric Markers I can get back to making quilt labels by hand, or I can color black-and-white labels I print on my computer to make them look nicer. The colors are bright enough to blend with primary fabrics, or when applied with less pressure they look nice with pastels.

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the Pens And Markers - Permanent forum.