Make Your Own Labels

So I have looked high and low to find the right type of label for me. I am just doing them on a small scale, so the fact that I had to order 300 labels from most companies didn't sound appealing to me. So I did what every great DIY'er does and I went to Pinterest to see what creative ways people in my situation resorted to. I didn't feel like spending a lot of money, and I like the joy I get when I know I did something with my own hands. So I found this awesome idea from seekatesew. Click here to go to her page.

The idea behind her page is to make your labels on the computer and have a yard of your own design sent to you. Then you make up your own labels. I was about to start the process when I looked in front of me and realized I had bought printable fabric (pictured below) a while ago to make a blanket for my husband when we were first dating, and a wedding quilt. So I decided to go a different direction than seekatesew. However the website that she sends you to, to make your personalized fabric is the coolest thing! You can literally do whatever you want, design your own art/pattern/picture. They print it off, and it looks high quality to me. So I really want to go do that for a different project soon.

1. Getting the printable fabric

I decided to use what I had in front of me. I found these because I was making a blanket for my parents when I was serving an LDS mission. It was a christmas gift. I liked the idea of iron on, so I was going to purchase something of that sort, instead I fell upon these in a craft store. I bought more later when I got home when I got engaged. I decided I wanted to use these for my wedding quilt. That way it wasn't a wedding album, but pictures of us on our wedding quilt.

When I get that project done I will make a blog about it too. I ordered them on Amazon - Here is a direct link. I'm a bargain hunter. So if you are like me, there are a few different options for the amount and price on Amazon. Look around and find what is best for you. I bought mine in a 4 or 5 pack of the 12 sheet packages. So make sure you are getting your moneys worth. The next thing I did was make a template on the computer like seekatesew had said.

2. Making your label

If you haven't designed your own logo yet, you will need to do that first. Then you will want to put it in a layout.

My husbands mac has the pages app. So I went in there, did the math and played around with it for a while. If you are familiar with pages this will be easy for you. I was not so familiar but my husband was. We had previously already made my logo on pages, so I just had to make it into a PNG so that it would be sized and moved to exactly where I wanted it in the square.

I made my squares 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" so that I could have edges to sew. You can make your tag however big you want, and whatever shape you want. I chose a square because my circle looked funny in a rectangle. Seekatesew suggested also doing it in photoshop or something similar.

In the pages app I just used a table insert to make my labels. It made it nice and easy to cut them out after. I had nice straight lines.

3. Printing

Then I printed a test page off to make sure I had actually done my math right and that they were the size I wanted them to be. MUCH BETTER! I am just starting out, and I didn't want 300 labels!!!!!! YIKES. 35 at a time seemed more realistic for me.

I then followed the directions (which are pretty simple to follow) on the inside of the package. I printed my labels off onto the treated fabric. That's right! Fabric!! No more iron-on pictures that peel in about a month.

4. Wash Fabric

Peel the paper off. Follow the instructions and run the fabric under cold water. Then let it dry. Iron it out and then cut out your labels.

5. Cut out labels

I only cut out a few because I didn't need them all and I didn't want to loose small labels. I think later I will cut them all out and sew them all at once and store them in my new sewing kit!

6. Fold your label in

I then folded in each side about 1/8". I just guesstimated until it looked nice to me. You can measure and iron yours if you want it to be exact and precise. The first time I made this label, I just sewed straight onto the fabric label, it would get sucked into that little hole under the needle and I was getting so frustrated.

I remembered that I had extra fabric lying around from a cardigan that I had made. I was in luck! So I sewed instead, onto the jersey fabric.

7. Sew to a solid backing

It looked so much nicer once I gave it a backing. Mind you, I am no sewing Susan, so my lines aren't as great as a lot of your lines might be. You get the idea though.

I then cut at a slight angle inwards so that the fabric didn't show too much.

This is what the underside of the label looks like. It actually makes it very easy to handsew it onto your project. It also gives the label some added thickness and sturdiness.