Sunday 20 July 2014

Making Soft Cotton Labels..

For months and months I have been wanting some labels to sew into my hats. I didn't want just any labels though.. I wanted soft, off-white good quality cotton with a simple design.  Which wouldn't of been difficult to find. But I wanted them bias cut so they wouldn't fray without the need for zig-zagging stitching the edges or fray-checking (which I've found to be scratchy in the past). I felt like I was searching for a needle in a haystack.. the only labels I liked worked out really expensive with postage costs factored in.  

The answer? Was waiting in my stash..

Bubble Jet Set & Rinse, freezer paper and
good quality cotton fabric
I didn't take photos of the earliest stages.. in a nutshell I cut the cotton on the bias, into just smaller than A4 sized pieces.  Which I soaked in the Bubble Jet Set solution for an hour or so, then let drip dry.  The great thing with BJS is that you can reuse the liquid.. just pour it back into the bottle after use.   I ironed the cotton flat then ironed it onto the freezer paper.  Now it was ready for printing on :)

I used a blank label template which gave me 50 labels per sheet.. picked out a font I like, typed the first one then copy pasted the rest.

I printed 3 sheets.. then left them a while to settle
I peeled the freezer paper off
Rinsed them in cold water with the Bubble Jet Rinse in,
let them dry and then ironed 
Time to trim
I started off cutting the columns
Then trimming each label
At this point I realised just how long it was going to take..
So started cutting across several columns at once :)  
Which was much faster :)
And in no time at all I had 3 lovely little piles of labels.. 
The first one sewn into a hat
Now I have 150 labels to keep me going for a while, and all it cost me was materials from my stash and some time :)

6 comments:

zenitude said...

What a great idea. I wonder if I can find those products in Canada. I'll have to check!

Lyn said...

Handmade labels on handmade hats - perfect! They look great and the low cost is a bonus.

takinagaturn said...

What a good idea !

Dotty Hen said...

These look really good! Have you tried any of the printable fabric sheets you can buy, some of them say they don't fray?

Elmtree said...

Brilliant idea!
I use a small stamp with name and washing instructions, had it made years ago. I use textile ink which is set by ironing. I can stamp cloth or ribbon that way. I refused to pay $80 for 5 metres of self provided ribbon to be stamped. I can now do unlimited amounts.

FeltersJourney said...

Thanks folks, glad you like 'em :)
xx

Mummy hen I haven't really looked at the printable sheets to be honest.. I may do in the future though :) Thanks for mentioning the non fray ones! x

Elmtree that's an excellent idea! Something else to think on for the future.. thanks for the tip! x