I had a couple February babies to sew for, so I went back to the Simple Sewing for Baby snugglers pattern – they come together so nicely, especially when you’re on your fourth one! This one’s for baby Sophia, who’s due to arrive sometime this week. I figured since she already has a name, I’d personalize it.
And since I’ve been on a labeling kick lately, I thought I’d share a little bit about how I make them (and drag out some past label and tag photos, too).
Here’s the rundown on the supplies I use for stamped labels: twill tape (available in many colors and widths, but here’s the kind I use), alphabet stamps, and a fabric stamp pad. I use StazOn ink – now that I look at the product description, it just says “multi-surface stamping”, but I’ve never had a problem using it on fabric. VersaCraft makes one especially for fabric, so you could try that, too.
There are also lots of options for letter stamps, but mine are made by Hero Arts. I have this lowercase set. I couldn’t find a link to my exact uppercase set (I’ve had both sets for 10+ years), but this one is close – it looks like they’ve swapped out the punctuation (mine came with ! and ? and &) for shapes, but the letters are exactly the same. The uppercase set includes numbers too, which is handy.
After stamping on the tape, press it with a hot iron to set the ink. Then sew on your label, either by hand or by machine. Easy! I like to pink the edges of my labels, but you can press the edges to the inside before sewing it on if you want a cleaner look.
I love being able to spell out names and make ridiculous little labels with the letter stamps. These were made with the same twill tape, just folded in half.
Of course you can use any old stamp to make a label…
And there are other options besides stamping, too. Here’s snuggler number four, with an embroidered name label. This one’s for baby Eleanor, who was born yesterday!
Embroidered labels are easy too, even if you don’t have much experience with hand stitching. I write the name with a water soluble pen, then use one strand of embroidery floss, doubled on the needle, to create a backstitch (here‘s a very simple explanation of this very simple stitch). The smaller your stitches are around the curves, the rounder your letters will look.
And more labels. You can also sew a fabric cut-out onto the tape or just machine stitch a design.
Or just use a piece of ribbon or fabric.
Tags are great for simple elastic waist pants and skirts, because it can be hard to tell the front from the back, especially for kids just learning to dress themselves. They’re also just a fun way to personalize the things you’ve made. And of course, they’re not just for clothing. You can pretty much slap a label on anything you make. Like Valentines or tea bags, for example.
By the way, thanks for all your kind comments about those tiny tea bags. They took some trial and error but really weren’t difficult to make. I was wondering – would anyone want to give it a try at home if I posted a tutorial?
Such a great post – thank you!! Love your little tags.. 🙂 And i would love a tea bag tutorial… they are so darling!!
Love, love, love your blog! Thanks for all the great sewing inspiration and the details on how you make your tags!!!
oh yay, i love your labels! so sweet and personal. and YES on the tiny tea bag tutorial when you have a free moment, please! 🙂
These labels are so cute! Thanks fĂĽr sharing these wonderful ideas!
Greetings from Germany
:: stoffbĂĽro ::
Love all your labels especially the machine stitched rainbow one! I just started fabric stamping labels too and it’s so fun and addictive 🙂 And a tutorial for the tiny tea bags would be lovely! They are insanely adorable!
Yes please to the tea bag tutorial! Would love to see that!
Gail, your labels are so lovely in their simplicity 🙂
And YES PLEASE to a tea bag tutorial
Your labels make your creations even more special. I was planning on copying you and now I know exactly how!!! Would love a tea bag tutorial. It was the sweetest valentine I saw this season.
Yesssss to tea bag tutorial. I am determined to make those with or without a tutorial, so more help is good!!
I just found your blog recently and I absolutely love it. You sew beautifully and have a lovely aesthetic. A teabag tutorial would be fantastic. My three-year-old daughter and her good friend love to have tea parties with my real teabags so I know some play teabags would be a HUGE hit (and I could preserve my real tea!)
I had been curious where you got the adorable “baby girl” labels! I should’ve known better. You made them! It’s all in the details, and I’d been eyeing several of the ones you show pictured in this post. Precious and so much fun!
Thanks for sharing your label-making ideas — they are all great and have inspired me to start stamping labels. I’ll be ordering supplies so my handmades can say, “Mimi made it!”
Thank you so much for the label making tips! They are so cute, and I love that you can personalize them by hand!
adorable gail. love all the details you add to your projects!
yes to the tutorial! thanks for the link to the stamps. i should get s a set too now that she’s interested in spelling and writitng.
I’d love a tea bag tutorial! We spend a lot of time making “tea” here . . .
Such sweet presents! The stamp tags are very inspiring- I feel like sewing something new just so I can make some :). I would love a tutorial on the tiny tea bags!
I love your blog! Everything you make is beautiful, and I love your fabric choices. A tea bag tutorial, please!! They will make our tea parties so much fancier :-).
A tiny tea bag tutorial! Yes please!
You read my mind…just the other day I was wondering if you would share how you makes those cute labels! This is great–I am definitely going to splurge on a letter set soon.
I’m so glad you shared this! 🙂 And I would love to see a tea bag tutorial!
would love a tea bag tute! they’re adorable. 🙂
What a great roundup of all your lovely labels! I’m sure the personalized gifts will be loved. How coincidental that you should know a little Sophia and an Eleanor, those are my daughters’ names!
the tea bags were really special. I think I would absolutely have to try them if you posted instructions. We’re just getting into pretend play and I can’t stop thinking about all your tiny food.
thanks so much for the details on how you do labels. i love your labels! like you said, you could use the stamps for other things too. i’d use them for personalizing cards and paper labels. i am definitely going to order this. thanks!
by the way, i was just thinking about your amazing tea bags this morning. they are so cute, but i have the feeling my girls would end up leaving them all over the house. we aren’t the most organized family! still – they are so awesome!
Pssst…HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
I just found your blog and love what you made. What pinking shears would you recommend for your projects?
oh thank you! i just use Fiskars brand – you can often find them on sale at Joanns, or here’s an Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Fiskars-9445-8-Inch-Pinking-Shears/dp/B000AXI856
Please do a teabag tutorial! I already bought fabric to try and make some on my own but a tutorial would be lovely.
Your work is beautiful!! And yes I too would love to see a tutorial on making those cute tea bags PLEEEEEASE! Funnily enough I’ve just stumbled onto your blog trying to find some inspiration for making my little girl some tea bags for her kitchen. I was going to do it in felt but I’m now going to put it off until i’ve got some muslim and hopefully a little help in how to do it? I would be very grateful. Thanks in advance, Michelle (and Ginny)
I love your little labels and would like to make some myself. I’m having trouble finding the twill ribbon…….The Ribbon Jar says they are out of stock. Do you know of any other sources? I live high in the Rocky Mtns. Pretty remote, so online ordering is my only hope!
not sure of another source for the stuff i have, but this kind is about the same width and comes in lots of colors, too: http://shopolivemanna.com/products/twill-tape. hope that helps!
I really like this idea. I make a lot of baby items and will now start putting labels onto the items. My first grandbaby is due in June and you can bet I am going to go label happy. Thanks for the idea.
~Mel
craftymeldesigns.blogspot.com
I hope you don’t mind–i just linked to this post on my blog. I love love your tags and thought I would give you some credit seeing as I just completely copied them from this post 🙂
thank you, don’t mind at all!
hi again, gail! i wanted to let you know that i made a skirt for one of my daughters and included a special hand embroidered tag. she absolutely LOVED it. i linked to your blog, as you are one of my most favorite sewing bloggers. i also linked to this post. thanks so much. the post is here, if you’re interested –
http://www.stitched-together.com/2012/04/everyday-skirt-tutorial.html
hi, just found your blog thru pinterest. i was wondering, with the stamped labels, do they seem to go thru the wash without the ink coming off? i would like to use this technique for my quilt labels, but want something permanent since they will be washed (and my embroidery is terrible!). thanks for your help, and your tutorials!
this type of ink washes pretty well (just a little fading) if you heat-set it first with an iron.
Great tutorial, very easy for a beginner like me to understand.
Does the ink come off when washed?
Not too much – if you use a hot iron to heat-set it after stamping the fading should be pretty minimal.
Thank you for this. I’ve been trying to make tags but my ink keeps washing out. I’ll try yours. Beautiful job!