Tips for Ordering Fabric Labels

I first heard of custom fabric labels via Make It and Love It.  I loved the look of Ashley's custom woven labels.  It wasn't long before I decided to get some of my own.  Ashley ordered her labels from World Wide Label by the hundreds. 

I don't have an Etsy shop, so I was looking for smaller quantities.  Typically, the less volume you buy, the more you pay per label.  The cheapest I could find for woven labels was $75.  I wanted to pay much less than that so I explored other options.

Certain printed labels can hold up to washings quite well.  Lorraine, from Patchwork Pottery explains how to make our own fabric labels from twill tape.  She used Photoshop to format her images and printed them with an inkjet printer on iron-on transfer paper.

I think this is great for those who don't mind experimenting a bit.  I think they would look nice on a corner of a quilt or bag.

For those of us who want ready made labels, there are some fantastic options on Etsy.  Sara with Ananemone sells custom printed labels on cotton sheeting.

Sara was so sweet.  When I emailed her about using her image, she offered to send me some samples of her labels for me to try out.  They are fairly inexpensive and I think would work well for baby clothing, especially if the label touches baby's skin.

I ended up choosing GutenTAGs (Seriously, isn't that the most awesome name for a labels shop??!) for my labels.  These labels are printed on satin ribbon.  I chose center fold labels printed on one side.

Cassie made me custom labels with the fonts of my choosing and showed me a couple proofs until we got it right.  She was great to work with.  The labels were a great price and I only had to order fifty of them. 

Aren't they adorable?!

I just love them!  They are exactly what I wanted.

All I had to do was fold them in half and press them with an iron.  I added a label to some froggy pajama pants I made a few years ago.  My tagless pants always end up getting put on backwards! Now I can tell frontwards from backwards.  The satin is soft, but seems stiff enough to hold up to washings and doesn't fray on the sides.



I folded the raw edges of the label to make a simple rectangular label (that is not sewn into the seam) and added it to the Easter dress I made last year:


I added it to an inside pocket of a shoulder bag I made last summer:  


(I can't wait to get my sewing machine back from the hospital so I can add these babies to more fun projects!  I'm going on 15 days without a sewing machine.)

If you are having labels designed for you, I would recommend putting your text in a word processor first so you can get an idea of what your label would really look like.  Change the paper size to the size of your finished label, and then you will know how small the font needs to be.  Some fonts look great when scaled down and others are unreadable or look sloppy.

I decided I liked 'made by meilie' for labels better than 'The Petite Sewist'.  Meilie, most often spelled 'Mei Li' in English, is the Chinese name for beautiful.  My dad speaks Chinese and gave me this name when I was a little girl.  I had this name embroidered on a long wool coat I made years ago.  I love the way 'meilie' looks in the font, Channel.  I actually wish I'd thought of this for the title of my blog.  It's a little more true to who I am, however, what I am is 'petite'...so I'll stick to my blog name for now.  (Changing names would be such a pain!)

I hope you've enjoyed this review of fabric labels.  If you've had experience with ordering your own labels, please share in the comments below.  There are so many options for labels.  Don't be afraid to try something new!  If you want a sample before you order, ask if the company or shop would send you one.