Notes on Marking
After yesterday's post about cutting out your Archer I got a lot of questions regarding the fact that I use a #2 pencil to do the majority of my marking. I thought I'd talk a little more about my marking methods really quickly. Above are my favorite marking tools, and they're pretty much the only ones I use. Pencil for everything it will show up on (even white silk wedding dresses at work) and the lighter chalk pencil and chalk wheels for darker fabrics where the pencil wouldn't show up.
As to how I mark things like dart ends pocket placement, etc. this is how it goes. I use this screw punch on my patterns to mark such things.
When laying out my pattern pieces I can then stick a pin through the little hole I punched out to mark whatever I'm trying to mark. I use a thin pin so I'm not worried about any permanent holes or anything like that, even on silks. In ready to wear the darts etc. are actually marked by the cutter drilling a tiny hole into the garment piece just inside of the dart point. I don't have a drill, but this is what works for me! *Also, pay no attention to the actual placement of the pocket line or the shape of this "pattern" I'm using here. I just cut it out of an old pant leg pattern for these photos, it's not real!