How to make your own labels

Finally, here it is: how to make your own labels tutorial.

It's a very easy thing to do, but it requires some time. Of course there is an easier and cleaner way to do your labels using Spoonflower (I found a tutorials on this some time ago. I will link it later) but I'm always afraid that I will pay much more on the shipping fare than the product it self.

So here it goes, my way on making labels.

Materials needed: the stamp of your brand, fabric paint and an ink pad. I've had my stamp done professionally and because it has different from normal dimensions I couldn't find an empty ink pad to fit it, so I asked my father-in-law to make me a custom ink pad. As for the fabric paint I used the left over of the black paint I used for making the moustaches on my moustache dress.

Test the stamp on different fabrics because if you have a detailed stamp as I do, it won't turn out so great on fabrics with large woven textures.....well, I can't explain it ok but I hope you will get the idea from the pictures. I ended up using an old bed sheet which was light and almost transparent.

Next start stamping the fabric leaving a little space on all the sides so you can finish them off without taking in from the design. Here is a picture of one of the fabric pieces I stamped. They won't all be the same, some will be smudged, others will have insufficient paint but that's the handmade style :D it won't be like you were just stamping some paper.

I had many irregular shaped pieces of fabric. 

NOTE: after your finish with the stamping part wash your stamp and ink pad as the paint dries with a little rubbery feel and it will ruin your stamp and pad. I can take out the small sponge from my ink pad and wash it, dry it and reuse it.

Then follow the instructions of your fabric paint. Mine were: let to dry, iron, wash and dry again before using the painted fabric.

After that trace your labels and start cutting.

At this point I recommend the following (a thing I regret I didn't do....we all learn from our mistakes): before you start stamping your fabric it's better to grid your fabric, meaning trace the final size of your label first and then stamp it as centered as possible. It's easier to cut them after they are dry and you won't waste any fabric.

Because I didn't do this I took me a lot longer to trace the labels and cut them and I wasted a lot of fabric.

Let's see if a picture explains it better than I.

so trace first then stamp it

Ok, now you can finish off the edges with whatever decorative stitch you want.

First I wanted to use colored thread and  the special foot for finishing the edges of a garment (it works instead of a serger and uses a wide zig-zag stitch but it has a guide on the right side so you will end up with a uniform stitch along the edge) but it turned out not so good.

So I ended up using white thread, my normal foot on the machine and a small zig-zag stitch and it turned out ok. They are not as professional as the ones on the clothes you buy, but they help me label my work and I am proud to say : "I also made the labels ! ".

So, it took me about 2 hours to stamp, 2 days for drying, ironing, washing and drying again, and 1 day to trace, cut and finish the edges, but now I have about 180 labels to use on my work and I only used about 10 drops of paint :)

I hope that you will understand my tutorial and If you have any questions please let me know below in comments. If you decide to use my tutorial to make your own labels I would love to see what you end up with.

Until next time,
Love and kisses.