Labels for homemade sewing projects tutorial

If you follow me on Instagram you will know that I have a brand new toy for my handmade projects, a customisable ink stamp, that my lovely hubby spotted at a table top sale brand new in the packet and suitable for textiles for the grand sum of 50p .
This is a little tutorial on how to make your own labels for your own homemade sewing projects.
You will need to gather the following,

Fabric for your labels , I used a cream woven fabric, use what you have.
Scissors or rotary cutter
Ink stamp
Ruler , not essential but makes life easier
Sewing machine or needle and thread if hand sewing.

I will now take you through step by step how to create these lovely little sew in labels for homemade projects , they are quick, easy and economical give any project that more professional look whether your items at a craft fair or giving them as gifts.

 

 

 

 

I was lucky enough to find a stamp that can be personalised, you arrange your tiny letters with tweezers on the rail on the stamp as shown below, remember it will all need spelling backwards.

The stamp I used stated it was suitable for textiles and washable up to 90 degrees, but if you are using it for projects that are not to be washed you could use a standard ink stamp, you may even find the ink isn't washable anyway and survives the wash, just experiment and see what works for you.

 

 

Once your stamp is set up you are ready to go, grab your fabric you are using to create your labels, mine is a cream woven fabric, but use what you have, an old pillowcase or shirt or sheet .

Then stamp away, try and stamp in rows , with the rows approximately 2cms apart and your stamps approximately 3cms apart, try and stamp in straight rows , you can see I went a bit wonky, do as I say not as I do. Also another tip is try and press reasonably hard with the stamp and with even pressure create an even print.

 

 

 

 

 

Next cut your labels into strips as below cutting halfway between the rows

 

 

 

 

Turn your row of stamps with the stamped piece of fabric facing away from you and sew with a straight stitch on your sewing machine if using one,  by folding the label over approximately half a centimetre toward the middle of the strip, do this along both long edges .  

 

 

 

 

Nearly there , you now have a strip of labels all neatly hemmed,

you just need to cut using scissors or a rotary cutter, half way between the stamps to separate them.

 

 

 

 

 

You then have sewing labels ready for any homemade project, the short edges of the labels will be raw and unhemmed on your labels but when you sew your label into your project you can turn the raw edges underneath the label and sew all around the label to sew your label into the project.

 

Another variation is to sew the raw edges down only leaving a loop which is handy for  clothes labelling.