LHQ - Quilt Labels

LEFT-HANDED QUILTING - Quilt Labels

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Note - these instructions are written in LEFTISH.  If you are right-handed - just reverse the directions. (I love saying that!!)
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In my post - LHQ - Scrapbook - Overview - I briefly mentioned - 
 
LABELS - I also attached samples of the labels I made for N's quilt - your quilt - and another one.  Sometimes I have to set them up at the bottom of the page - on the left - or on the right - depending on where I want them to print on the fabric sheets.  I make sure to leave about an inch around all sides when I cut them out.  I sew border strips to the sides - press them open - and then sew strips to the top and bottom - using a 1/4" seam allowance - press it and square it up.  Then I put it right side down on a piece of muslin - sew completely around the whole thing - clip the corners to reduce the bulk - make a small slit in the muslin - turn it inside out - press it real well - and voila! - a label already to sew to the quilt - and no raw edges to turn under!!

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For this exercise - I'll show you how I made the label for the practice quilt I made to use in the Free Motion Quilt Along - Designed by Christina - A Few Scraps.  (I just realized that this practice quilt is NOT on my list of UFOs - OH CRAP!! - another one!!)

So - This Is How I Do It -

I make my quilt labels on my computer

• I write the info I want in a "Word" document
• I adjust the margins so that I can fit two columns on the page - or sometimes I have to set them up at the bottom of the page - on the left - or on the right - depending on where I want them to print on the fabric sheets.
• I choose a font I like and adjust the size to accommodate all the stuff I want to put on the label
• I make it all "CAPS" and "BOLD"

• then print them on "fabric sheets".  (I use June Tailor ® Sew-In Inkjet Fabric Sheets ™.)

• I try to print two or three at a time in a column down the left side of the sheet - 

• and cut them apart

• then I can run the sheet in the other direction for three more down the other side.

• Sometimes (like here) I use leftover scraps by taping them to a plain sheet of paper

I remove the paper backing and - according to the manufacturer's instructions - do the "Colorfast treatment".  I rinse the label(s) in cold water - lay it/them on a paper towel - pat (not rub!!) the excess water off - and press it/them with my iron until they are dry.

I make sure try to leave about an inch around all sides when I cut them out.

Because this label is being made from a scrap - the "white space" is barely over 1/2" - but it will still work.  The ink smear from a previous printing will wind up in the seam allowance - so I'm not going to trim it off.  (Sorry about the glare in the photo.)

I use fabric scraps for the borders - they just have to be long enough for the top and bottom borders -

and cut four strips.

I sew border strips to the sides - using a 1/4" seam allowance

and trim them.

press them open

and then sew strips to the top and bottom -

trim it

press it

and square it up.

• First - the top left corner - 1" seems to be about right

• trim the left side and the top

• then flip the label around - set another 1" margin in the top left corner

• trim the left side and the top

Then I put it right side down on a piece of muslin -

sew completely around the whole thing - using a 1/4" seam allowance

trim it
and clip the corners to reduce the bulk -

make a small slit in the muslin -

turn it inside out -

press it real well -

and voila! - a label already to sew to the quilt - and no raw edges to turn under!!I

When the labels are all done - I attach them to the lower back of the quilt.

The question is then - which "side" of the back - lower left side or lower right side?

As I look at the back of the quilt - my natural tendency is to want to attach the label to the lower right side.  It just seems more visually pleasing to my eye.

However - my long-arm quilter/friend disagreed - and won!!  She said it should be attached to the lower left side.  Her reasoning was that - if the quilt were ever entered in a Quilt Show - the "white-glove ladies" usually stand at the right side of the quilt (as you face the quilt) - all ready to flip the quilt over to show you the label - if you ask.  In order to do that - the label has to be on that side - which is the left side as you look at the back of the quilt!!

Is this a right-handed world or what?!

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Anyway - my way - the way I described above - just kinda evolved when I discovered the inkjet "fabric sheets" way back when.  And since they were/are so expensive - and I didn't want to waste them - I figured out a way to print them on the computer (because my handwriting sucks!) and then run two columns of labels - one down each side.  I bordered them to make them bigger and the size I wanted/needed.  Then I backed them with muslin because I was lazy and didn't want to have to turn under all of the edges when I sewed them to the back of the quilt.

Basically - I found a way of making quilt labels that worked for me!!

And - apparently I am not the only one who has figured out this particular technique - because in the November/December 2010 issue of Quiltmaker - page 36-37 - is an article/tutorial on HOW TO MAKE A QUILT LABEL!!

Except for me making better use of my "fabric sheets" (I think) by printing two columns of labels instead of just one down the center (and wasting all of the space on both sides) - the tutorial pretty much described something I HAVE BEEN DOING FOR YEARS!!

When I read the article - I laughed out loud!!  (My husband didn't flinch - I talk back to the TV all of the time - and he must have thought it was "one of those times".  He was right!)  I swear - I felt like I had just read all about how some youngun' had just discovered this new fangled thing called a "wheel"!!

I thought it was hilarious!!

So - I went to the Quiltmaker website - and - after reading comments from new quilters about how "wonderful" this technique was - and I totally agree that it is -

And - after reading other comments from experienced quilters - like me - who already do the same thing with their own variations - I registered my own comment (#91).  Quiltmaker

Then I remembered what my Dad used to say -

"Anything is easy - if you know how."

And I realized that in writing this blog - I am doing the exact same thing - spouting off things that you/everyone already know(s).   But then again - I figure that if a magazine can publish stuff that I/we have been doing for years - so can I.

And I try to remember that I was a beginner once, too.

So this Left-Handed Quilting stuff is mainly intended for newbies - beginner quilters - those who don't know this stuff already.

If you are an experienced quilter - and think I'm spouting - feel free to laugh your ass off...


Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -