Tailor’s chalk is great for marking fabrics but it dulls quickly and the marks can end up too big and inaccurate. There are tailor’s chalk sharpeners available but those totally suck. Let me show you a cheaper and more effective way to sharpen chalk!
Use a razor blade! Preferably one that’s a little dull and has been retired from opening seams.
I’m a leftie, so I hold the chalk in my non-dominant (right) hand, and use my dominant (left) hand to hold the blade. I slowly shave the chalk back into a point. It doesn’t take much pressure at all.
I’m very careful not to slide the blade against my finger, but gently pressing it into my skin isn’t likely to cut it. Of course, I always use caution, especially with new blades. And I normally do this over a trash can, not on my table!
If you’re not comfortable putting a blade against your skin, you could also hold the chalk against your table and shave down to sharpen it.
Either way, you get a crisp edge to continue marking for a few more minutes before it dulls again.
