Some ideas for making Quilt Labels

This is from etsy.com, on their "How- Tuesday: Make a Quilt Label".

Supplies you’ll need:

• Permanent fabric marking pen
• Two rectangular pieces of fabric for your label:
  • A print or solid fabric that coordinates with your quilt
  • Muslin or light colored fabric (cut ½” smaller than print fabric piece)
• Piece of freezer paper same size as muslin piece
• Needle and thread 
• Double fold bias tape (1/2 yard for a 3” x 5” label)

Directions:

 1. Cut out fabric pieces to size based on how much information you plan to put on the label. (The label in this demo is approximately 3” x 5.”)

2. Iron the shiny side of the freezer paper to one side of the muslin piece. This stiffens the fabric temporarily so that it is easier to write on.

3. Write the information you want to include on your label on a scrap sheet of paper roughly the size of your finished label to practice spacing. Basic information includes quiltmaker’s name, date finished, location made, phone number or email address of owner. For other ideas see below.

4. Use the permanent fabric pen and copy the information to your muslin piece. Remove the freezer paper from the back of this piece.

5. Attach the bias tape to the muslin piece by sandwiching the edge of the muslin piece inside the bias tape and sewing through all three layers using a running stitch.

6. Position the muslin piece on top of the coordinating fabric and sew down using a whip stitch. Now your label is ready to attach to your quilt.

7. Fold under ¼” on all sides of the label, finger press and sew to your quilt using a whip stitch.

A quilt made by the Quiltsy Team for the Etsy office. (More here.)

Label Logic

• If your quilt is washable, then your label should be too. If you use inkjet printables, be sure to follow instructions to set the ink and keep it from fading or washing out.
• Some quiltmakers hide an additional washable label inside the binding somewhere on the quilt to add an extra way of identifying the quilt if the outer label were to come off.
• Historians can more easily decipher quilts that have a name and a date. If you want a minimal label, be sure to include at least these two things.
• Family members can piece together the family history easier when dates, names, locations and other details remain with the quilt, often a long time after the maker has passed away.
• Consider recording both the begin and end dates for your quilts so you’ll remember how long it took to complete.
• Lost quilts are easier to locate if contact information is included on the label.

Entry from AAQ’s 2010 “New From Old” contest

Variations and alternatives:

• Write your information directly on a coordinating fabric, turn under the edges and sew to your quilt.
• Write your information on a piece of muslin then position a ribbon, rickrack or a row of buttons over the raw edges and sew to the quilt.
• Buy inkjet printable fabric sheets to print your labels and either sew or iron onto your quilt.
• Write your information on a wide, light-colored piece of twill tape and sew to your quilt.
• Embroider your information onto a fabric label and sew to your quilt.

More Quilt Label Examples:

By Robin Smith (my mom) for my birthday

Entry from AAQ’s 2010 “New From Old” contest

By Whimbrella from the Quiltsy Team

Quilt label with 2006 coin by Jane Jellyby

By Pamela Quilts from the Quiltsy Team. Tutorial here.