Canvas Tip: Dry Erase Markers

I'm not an expert on plastic canvas; actually, I've only been working with it for a couple of years, and truthfully, I've only really gotten into it in the past year or so.  Every day I learn something new about this fascinating craft!  I'm sure there are other newbs out there like me who can benefit from the cool things I learn along the way, so I'm going to try to post little tips on Tuesdays (probably not every Tuesday, but I'll try!) and we can learn together.  Let me know if there's any tips you have that you want to share!

My very first tip is probably the most important thing I learned about plastic canvas, and that is, you should always mark the canvas before you cut!  You have no idea how many perfectly good pieces of canvas I've ruined because I was trying to cut it by looking at the pattern, and I missed a hole somewhere along the way.  That's really frustrating, especially when you're working on a big piece.

But I also know that I don't like using permanent marker for several reasons.  One, because it's not actually as permanent as they'd like you to believe, and I always seem to get ink on my yarn as I stitch.  Two, because if you're working with a light color yarn, and you marked with a dark color, you'll be able to see the marks through the yarn (I learned that one the hard way).

So what can you use that marks plastic but can easily be removed?  Why, dry erase markers!  How brilliant is that?  As soon as I thought of it I went out and bought a three pack at the Dollar Tree (for a dollar of course).

My three pack came with blue, black and red.  The blue and black both work great, but the red is too light to see so I don't actually use it.  Still, two markers for a buck!

It's important to get a marker with a small pointy nib, since you'll be marking thin lines.

And I really like these markers because they have built in erasers on the cap.  Once I mark the canvas and cut it, I just put the cap back on and erase the lines!  So easy!

I've looked for brand name dry erase markers that have a pointy nib and a built in eraser, but they're hard to come by, and boy are they expensive.  So if you have a dollar tree near you, I recommend their markers!  But really, anything will do as long as it has a fine point.  You can always use a paper towel to erase the lines.

Well, I hope you enjoyed today's tip.  Do any of you use dry erase markers?  What about permanent markers?  Or do you just eyeball it?