Monday, July 20, 2009

Label tutorial... The Spoonflower way

A bit of background.

I had made over 100 quilts with no labels. (don’t kill me) I just did not see the point. Every book, pattern, magazine told me to do it, but I didn’t. Then Sue held a demo at the shop and showed all kinds of Quilts with different labels. Simple, complex, fused, pieces and so on. It was the first time I really got the point of a label. The quilt that sold me on needing to make them was one that Sue had acquired at an estate or church sale of some kind. It had no label… no info at all. It is very old and has immaculate hand quilting of hands and feet throughout the border. They are all sizes and probably the family of the quilt maker, but nobody will ever know. I’m sure the person that made it just wasn’t thinking about what would happen 100 years from when they made it…. I started to think about my quilts in 100 years and realized I need to make labels!


Since Sue’s workshop I have made 2 labels by hand but I wanted a simpler method that would have all of my info and be easy to read. I’ve got a plan about going back and labeling all my quilts..even if they are not in my house anymore!!

So then came spoonflower….
If you haven’t played around with Spoonflower yet you are missing out. They rock.
They will print a yard of fabric for $18 with your art on it…(42" x 36").....They can print more or less as well.

Depending on your label size you can get 60 or more on one yard of fabric which means each label costs 30cents!




Here is how you do it.

1. Decide what size label you want to make and what information you would want on it. I designed two.

my personal labels are 6.00in x 4.00in
so on a yard you can get a 9x7 = 63 labels
(i printed these horizontal to maximize space)

my blog labels are 5.83in x 3.62in
so on a yard you can get 10x7 = 70 labels


(42" x 36") = printable area on a yard of fabric...

Examples
4”x4” = 10x9 = 90
5”x5” = 8x7 = 56
5” x 4” = 8x9 = 72
6” x 3” = 7x12 = 84
The possibilities are endless!



2. Decide what you want on your label.

This was where I realized I'd end up making two.

- Above is one that has my block header, name, e-mail and blog address. I put a small box in the bottom right for details that will relate to the specific quilt the label is going on.

- Below is a logo of my initials that I designed while in college. It has my name, e-mail, and city. This one will be used on projects made before my blog, or ones that are more personal.


3. Make your file. Spoonflower prints at 150dpi which is dots per inch. That means a 6”x4” label would be 900 pixels by 600 pixels. You can use Photoshop or any graphic software you have to do this. Add text, graphical elements or even a picture. Pictures will not always print well but I’m happy with how mine turned out. You can order a swatch to test your colors first if you want.

Spoonflower has a lot of info on their faq page of their blog about resolution, color, and more. One thing I found handy was the ability to download a color palate for Photoshop. (you can see it on the right in the screen shot below)



I wanted the ability to be able to fuse these to a project or piece them into the backing fabric. Because of that I added seam allowances with cut lines around my artwork. For fusing I cut right inside the line and I’m good to go. For piecing I cut in the middle of my guide lines and since they are about an 1/8” from where I cut they will be hidden in the seam allowance.

To do this make sure you design your art with extra space around it. Once you are done designing draw lines 1/8" in from each side. See below.




4. Once you are happy with your images upload it to Spoonflower. If you are new you will have to make an account but it only takes a minute. As I mentioned earlier you can order a swatch. They cost $5 and are worth it if you are worried about your colors or will be printing a large qty. You can just go ahead and order a yard which is what I did for this project. Place your order and wait for it to come. Considering the product has to be printed for you their turnaround time is pretty fast.

screen shot of a yard of fabric



screen shot of a FQ of fabric


another screen shot of a yard of fabric... you can see here that i decided to print this label in 4 colors... so after designing it i made the file twice as wide and twice as tall and the file i uploaded to Spoonflower had 4 labels on it... because the print count was odd (7x9) i have more of some colors than others but that is fine with me!


5. Once they arrive ohh and ahh for a while. Then get to work!

apply fusible to the back and cut out a label...


use a permanent pen to write info specific to that quilt... i used a pigma micron 08 in black..


place on quilt... and iron... i suggest stitching it down by hand as well.. i just didn't get to do that yet!


a quilt that is no longer without a label!!


Questions?? Leave them in the comments section or e-mail me. I'm sure I may have left something out, so just let me know. I'm here to help!!

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want to link to this tutorial?
grab a button!
{144 x 144}

{250x250}


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other useful label tutorials...

rachel made a good tutorial on labels... if your handwriting is all cute like hers

Jacquie at tallgrass prairie studio

Amanda jean’s no computer method

the sometimes crafter has a good one for making one sheet from word

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there is more than just labels that you can do with Spoonflower...

Tula Pink printed fabric with tuna cans on it and made a “tula of the sea” bag
(i so want this fabric!!)

...also check out Spoonflower's flickr page



© 2009-2022 Julie R. Herman. All rights reserved.
No part of this tutorial or pattern may be reproduced without written consent of Jaybird Quilts. 

42 comments:

rachel griffith said...

cute, cute, cute.
{and thanks for the linky love.}

amylouwhosews said...

What a great idea! Thanks for sharing. I need to get in the habit.

karen @ badlandsquilts said...

I have been playing with spoonflower, but never thought of it for labels... (but I've been trying to think of something for those too!) Wonderful, wonderful idea!!!

Dresden Quilter said...

I really wish we lived closer together. Okay, in the same country. I have been to Spoonflower before but did not know it printed labels. Thank you once again.

Kris said...

great idea to use Spoonflower! Thanks!

Kelly O. said...

so think this is an awesome idea! leave it to you to be creative like this!

Unknown said...

I LOVE this idea! I have bunches with no label to - time to get on it :)

Angie said...

What a great idea!

I too have not been much of a labeler. I've labeled only one quilt. I definitely should have done more. My husband's stepdad was the one quilt I labeled. When he would show off the quilt, he also showed off the label!

Thanks for the tutorial.

Angela Nash said...

I love it! They should totally pay you for all the label makers to come their way. I have been pretty good about labeling my styff with Amandajean's tutorial. I love the idea of having a bunch - with cutting lines no less!- ready to go. Thanks!

Cindy said...

Thanks so much for the directions. What a great method and you can be very creative with it!

Sherri said...

Fun post...love the spoonflower labels and all the links too!

Sinta Renee said...

Thanks for the info! How was your trip to Long Beach/Quilt festival?

roseylittlethings said...

I so haven't labeled any of my quilts either, yikes I should know better since I use to be an avid counted cross stitcher and always labeled them! Guess I need to make some labels! Great tutorial and ideas!

Very Shannon said...

this is great! i'll be linking on wednesday!

www.luvinthemommyhood.com

Lisa said...

Thanks for this post - it's great, I've never labelled a quilt & I know I should...

Marit said...

Thank you for sharing. I still have not found a good way to do the labels, but as you say, it's not too late! Love yours, especially the big J!

Little Lady Patchwork said...

Hey Juli!

You rock! Thanks for the tip and your labels look fabulous!

wishes, true and kind said...

Oh -- wonderful information. Thank you so much for sharing!

Jenn Downing said...

Wow, this is the best info I have seen yet this year on a blog! I have been wanting to have my own fabric printed and didn't know Spoonflower existed! I'm checking out their site - the label idea is very cool.
Thanks for sharing!

Kerri said...

what a great idea!! thanks for sharing!!

Unknown said...

I found your page while playing with spoonflower and trying to design my first fabric. I don't sew or quilt, but your label idea will make a great gift for my wife's mom who is a big quilter and for my niece who is learning to sew by making doll clothes. Great idea.

Jessica said...

What an awesome solution to labels. This is a life saver...i've been trying to figure out what kind of label to put on my latest quilt! Thanks so much!

Annette said...

Now that is just so clever. Thanks for the ideas.

Christina Lane | The Sometimes Crafter said...

OMG! What a great idea! Way to think outside of the box. I'm totally going to do this.

Jamie said...

Brilliant!

John said...

Awesome post! Now I just have to learn how to use Photoshop ... or just outsource my label design! hmmmmm ... ... ...

~Laurie~ said...

YOU are da girl!! I love this idea! Thank you SO much for letting us in on this terrific way to make the dreaded label! Perfect!!

KarenS said...

Thanks so much for this tutorial! Your designs are great.

Victoria said...

Found you from Rosie's Fabric Shopper blog. Great idea and tutorial, thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for spoonflower lead for labels. I also have been bad about labeling quilts. I realized the importance after one quilt was stolen from after a class I was teaching. I just wanted that person to know & remember that someone else OWNED that quilt. Still I've not found a system that is one I like.

Sara said...

What program did you use to create your label in?

Meghan said...

First of all, amazing info. I would never have thought to add guide lines.

OK, random question time. When you hand-sew your label down, do you have some magic trick for the ends of the thread? Or do you just cut very close to the knot?

Retrogirl said...

Genius. Pure genius.

Mihaela said...

I have just discovered your site. It's fabulous! I am finding here no less than precious information. Your tutorials are great!
Thank you very much!
I've putted your link on my side barr!

Elizabeth Dackson said...

Thanks for the super detailed instructions - I will definitely be doing this in the new year, because I am fully lacking in cute handwriting like Rachel's! :)

Happy holidays to you, Julie! Your blog has been a constant source of inspiration to me, and one of the first quilty blogs I found when I began quilting in January. Thank you for sharing all that you do :)

Madame Parfait said...

Thank you so much for such an in depth how to! I finished my label, got it printed up in a test square, and love it! I have to change a few colors, the yellow came out in such a way you cannot see it at all, so I'll have to play around with it a bit. This is such a great idea and looks great on the back of a quilt!

ictero said...

I know this is an old post, but it's so timely! I'm working on a couple of baby quilts and have already started feeling guilty about not labeling them - and they're not even done yet! I'm definitely going to be check into this.

Levi's Mommy said...

Do the edges fray if you use fusible, iron it down and stitch the edges?
This is a great idea, I'm looking for a cheaper way to do my labels for my baby/kids clothes, my labels are tiny so I could get a TON of them on a yard of fabric

PersimonDreams said...

THANKS!

Marlene @ KISSed Quilts . com said...

The date on your label caught my eye--it is my birthday ;-) (6/24) HA! ..anyway...great idea for mass producing a generic label. I tend to print them on my inkjet printer individually, using my logo but also writing all the details before printing it. I then use the micron pen to sign it.

Cloudy Stitches said...

as always Julie this rocks. Amanda
xxx

Anonymous said...

I thought about doing new labels on Spoonflower for myself and I so love your tutorial. It helps me a lot how to do it. Thanks :)