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Friday, July 30, 2010

Label Making Tutorial

I always mean to make a label, but just never get around to it.  Today I took the plunge.  I had everything I needed on hand: a word processing program, freezer paper, muslin and a printer.

Step 1- Create label in the word processing program of your choice.  Print it on regular paper for effect.

Step 2 - Cut an 8.5 x 11" piece of freezer paper.  Press shiny side of freezer paper to wrong side of fabric. 
Step 3 - Trim excess fabric. I was worried loose edges might jam my printer, so I pressed all the edges again.



Step 4 - This is the scary part.  Load it into your printer and hit "print."  My printer made some unusual sounds when it picked up the freezer paper, but everthing fed smoothly.  Whew!!

Step 5 - Inspect your label.  I had to print 3 because the first 2 had black smudges on them.  I also embellished my label a bit further.  Here's the final product.
Step 6 - This is important: Take a plain white piece of paper and cover your label to prevent smudging.  Press one more time to set the dye.  Your label is now laundry-proof. 

Step 7 - Peel off freezer paper.  Finish label edges on your sewing machine.  Slip stitch label to back of quilt by hand. 

Now that I've done it, I have to wonder why I didn't do it sooner!  I expect all my projects will be labeled and dated in the future.  I may even go back and make a label for some older quilts.  :)

3 comments:

Joanne said...

Great tip!!

Pat said...

Let me try this again...I've been told to label my quilts and I don't have a problem when it's a quilt I made for a particular person. But I donate a lot to charities. I'm not sure how to label them and do I really want unknown people to know my name. Any suggestions?

Chris said...

Hi - You may not want to put your name down, but you could still put down the name of the pattern, town or city and date. I know quilt historians always refer to the date and location which gives them clues as to what fabrics, dyes, styles, etc. were available at the time the quilt was made. It might also be fun for the quilt recipient to see how far the quilt travels from its city of origin.