Sew In Labels Tutorial - Half Fold

The Story: It's been a while since I've posted anything! So many things happened since my last post but I have something new to show y'all. I wanted to give you something that I have been doing myself for a few months now. I have been creating my own sew in labels! Once I figured it out, I don't buy them anymore! I saved a ton of money!!!

Cost Analysis: To show you how much I saved, here's what I've been paying for in the past. I use to purchase my labels at $10 each set plus shipping and handling. Each set came with 30 labels. Total cost was: $11.00

Now I create my own. I purchase the photo fabric sheets at around $10 + tax so lets say $11.00 per package. Each package comes with 6 sheets and I can make 30 labels in one sheet. That's 180 labels for $11.00. That's a savings of $55.00!!! If that's not an incentive to create your own, then I don't know what is!!!

The Materials: To get started you need to go to your local craft store and purchase Photo Fabric. I use Crafter's Images by Bluementhal Craft. There are different sizes but I suggest getting the 8 1/2 x 11 inch sheets. 6 comes in a pack. It cost me about $10 + Tax. They are made from Cotton Poplin and are very durable.

• Photo Fabric (for inkjet or your printer type)
• Paper Cutter
• Fray Check
• Paper Towel(s)
• Microsoft Word or similar program
• Inkjet Printer

The How To

Creating the Software Template: I created my labels to be 1.5"High x 1.5" Wide. They are to be folded in half and the raw ends sewn onto the project. In MS Word (or similar) open an new document. Then insert a table with 6 rows and 5 columns. Now here's the tricky part. I can only tell you what you need to do with MS Word but if you are using another program I suggest playing around with your settings.

Next highlight all the cells and right button click on them. This will bring up a list of settings. Click on "Cell Alignment" and then click on "Align Bottom Center".

Now got to the first cell. Right button click on it and got to "Table Properties". In the first tab called, "Table" check the box that says, "Preferred Width" and set the width to 7.5". Now go the the "Row" tab and check the box that says, "Specified Height" and make the height 1.5" high. Next click on the button below that called, "Next Row" and do the same thing. Continue clicking "Next Row" until all 6 rows have the settings of 1.5" high.

While still in the "Table Properties" box, click on the tab that says, "Column". Just as you set the row height, you are now going to set the column width. Check the box that says, "Preferred Width" and set the width to 1.5". Click on the button below called, "Next Column" and set all the columns. Once complete, click OK.

Now you'll see that the cells are set but it's in 2 pages.


We want to fit everything on one page to get the most of your paper fabric. Go to the left most part of your screen. Now click on the last white "box" until you see a double arrow and drag it until you fit your cells appear all in one page. See example image below:


You'll then see them appear in one page just as the sample image below shows:


Customizing the Label: Now for creating your labels. If you have an image use may insert it and minimize the size. For my labels, I have an image of my tree (my logo) and the words, "OneHappyTree.com" following it.

Click on the first cell and insert your image (for me it's my tree). Then set the font as you'd like, mine is Arial Round MT Bold. Set the colors etc. Type the name of your business, I typed "OneHappyTree.com" (minus the quotes). I then resized my image, highlighted my text and set the font to size 8.

You will need to leave room for sewing the label in your project. To do this go to the end of your shop name and hit the return or enter 2 x's. The text and image will move up but make sure you don't have it in the middle part of your cell. You'll want to leave enough room to fold this label in half. Hitting return/enter 2 x's will leave a good 1/4" raw edge to sew in.

Now highlight the entire cell and copy it. Now go to the next cell and paste it. It should look like your first cell. Continue pasting it into each cell until your entire page is filled.

Print: Now you can print it! Read the manufacturer's instructions on printing. I used my inkjet printer and it came out great! You'll want to "test" the settings so I suggest you go into your printer properties and set your printer to "Draft" and use regular paper first. I worked for Hewlet Packard and Savin companies and I know that almost all printers have the "draft" settings. It may also be called, "sample". You want this setting because it uses less ink. This will allow you to see/test your page.

Print it out on regular paper first and see if you everything the way you'd like it. Cut it out, fold it in half and pretend to place it into your project. If all looks good, place a sheet of your photo fabric in the printer according to the manufacturers directions.

Don't forget to go to your printer properties and reset it to the proper settings, (basically this is your final copy so you don't want to select "Draft"). I have a Epson CX7800 and I set my properties to "Text & Image". Now you can print them!


Cut and Prep: Ok so you've gone through the trouble of setting your labels in MS Word and printing them. Don't forget to save your document!!! You can go back and print them out as many times as you want with out having to reset everything!

Now you need to cut and prepare the labels. I like to cut each label using my page cutter and cut them horizontally as seen below:

It doesn't matter if you can see the black lines on the bottom and top of your label because these are the areas that will be sewn into your project. Continue to cut the sheet of labels into strips.

Once complete, you will have to now cut each strip into squares, thus creating one label :) The tricky part is you have to cut out the black lines on the right and left side of your label. These parts will show.

Now you have a bunch of little fabric labels.


The next step is to peal off the paper backing. This is placed there to stiffen up the fabric for printing. You don't want it. Peal the sucker off!


Oh, how cute. Look at the curly little labels you've made! Next we have to prep each label. If you are sewing the labels into an item that will be washed as in a blanket, follow the manufacturer's directions for washing each label and laying them to dry. I put my labels on items that will not necessarily be washed so I skip this part.

Applying Fray Check: Lay out a sheet or two of paper towels. Take one label and apply Fray Check on all 4 sides. I apply Fray Check on pretty thick. Lay them on the paper towels and allow to dry. About 1 hour or more.


After they dry, you may now fold your labels in half, press with an iron and sew them into your project! Congratulations you made your very own labels!!!

Hope you find this tutorial helpful. If you have any questions just drop me a line at : Thanita@OneHappyTree.com!

xoxo
Thanita