Making Fabric Labels for Handmade Projects

I have a semi simple method of creating fabric/ribbon labels for handmade sewn projects, or at least to sew into projects. What you'll need is iron on transfer paper, ribbon 1-1 1/2" wide, and an image. This is where PS Elements comes in handy but I think Paint or some similar tool would work. Create image. What I did was use text as a reverse mask over lilacs. To print the image there are two ways to do it, that I tried. Either copy the image into Word and then set margins and copy multiple times. This is to fill the page so as to not waste the iron on transfer. Or you can just open the label template in Word and put the image in there and it will automatically fill page depending on which template you choose.

Now, with the white iron-on transfer paper you will need to reverse your image. I did that in PSE but I think most printers give that option. If you use iron-on transfer paper for dark fabric you don't need to reverse the image. I don't like doing the dark simply because it's a pain to peel off the paper after transfering. If you use the white then you'll want to stick with a light colored ribbon. I prefer the ivory color. I still get my color from my image but it's not startling white. I tried it with some light green ribbon and that worked all right also but with a light beige the color sort of got lost.

Looking at the image, the label in reverse on white iron-on transfer paper after cutting from full sheet is to the left. The label with the name ironed on. I cut 3" strips of ribbon and fold it in half. Now sew label to project. I use this label for purses so insert it behind the pocket when sewing it to the lining. If you aren't going to have rough edge sewn into a project like this then I recommend using some fray-check.

The result is a beautiful, professional looking label that is unobtrusive and yet tags your handcrafted project as definately yours. I use 1 1/4" ribbon and set my margins in Word so that each image is 1 1/4" wide and it matches perfectly. I do not really worry if it's facing up or down when ironing it to ribbon, as you'll probably notice in image but you can be consistent if you want.