Saturday, March 5, 2016

Labeling your quilts

Do you label your quilts?   Record at least your name and the year the quilt was made?

Today I want to share some of my favorite labels and a tutorial of the most common way that I attach a label to a quilt.

First, some favorite labels which offer some different ideas on how to make a label.

I created this label for my New Jersey quilt (gifted to my mom) at Spoonflower and attached it to the back of the quilt after quilting.

Quilt Label Example

The label for my Farmer's Wife quilt was a spare block I built right into the backing.


For the TARDIS quilt I made my daughter, I wished her many adventures through time.

Quilt Label Example Dr Who

For my other daughter, I made her an Irish chain quilt in honor of her love for the Celtic Woman.

Quilt label example

For a quilt I made at the beach, I ordered a label online - isn't it pretty?


My Sea Turtle quilt - love that this has a bit more than just the name and date.  This is a wall hanging so I used a sharpie pen and then framed the label in the same fabric as the backing.  It was sewn down on two sides before the binding was attached.


The label technique that I use most often starts with a square piece of fabric ironed in half to form a triangle.   You can make this as large or as small as you want.  It needs to be big enough to capture all the information you think is important for the quilt.

I turned one of the hanging corners on the back of my Sunburst quilt into a label.


Another example - this quilt is a wall hanging so I used a permanent pen since it won't be going through the washing machine.


Consider capturing your name, the year and the name of your quilt.  Additional information is also a great idea like the location or quilt designer.

In honor on each of my sisters (there are 6 of them) turning the big '50', I have been making them each a quilt.   This is the label for the quilt I'll be gifting in September. In this case, I used the date to both record the year is was made (2016) as well as her birthday month.

I stitched this label on my machine and the fact that the fabric was folded over gave it extra stability.


Before sewing on the binding, attach it to the quilt on two sides.

quilt label tutorial

And there it is in all of its glory.


Your turn.

Do you label your quilts?  If so, tell us about it in the comments.



I hope you found this tutorial and quilting tip on quilt labels helpful.   I'll be linking up here at Sew Simple Saturdays.  I love the idea of sharing quilting tips each month.  Here are the list of tips I shared previously:

Also check out my other tutorials!



Have a wonderful day! Patty

10 comments:

  1. THANKS FOR SHARING YOUR NEAT PROJECTS! YES,I HAND STITCH A LABEL LIKE YOUR LAST PHOTO SHOWS. msstitcher1214@gmail.com

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  2. I try to always label although sometimes they sit for quite some time waiting! Thanks for the tips!

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  3. Hi patty - I am one of those quilters that always forgets to add the label. I think I have labelled maybe 2 or 3 of my quilts. I really love all your labels. So fun. Thank you for the reminder of how important it is to label them! And thank you for linking up! xo jan

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  4. thanks you have shared some good ideas for labelling

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  5. Thank you Patty -- this is an awesome display of label options... Love it!

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  6. There are some great ideas here! I used to always label my quilts, but I have got a little slack in that department! Time to remedy that, I think! Thanks for the reminder!

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  7. Great ideas for labels. I must admit that labels are not my favorite to make and so a lot of my quilts don't have them.

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  8. I keep telling myself a quilt isn't finished until it's got its label... but I am a little slack at adding them - I have used the triangle method before but it's great to see the other ideas too ... thanks for all the tips :-)

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  9. What a lovely post! I wish I'd seen it earlier - I had an article on quilt labels in my last newsletter and would love to have added a link to your post...I may just go and sneak it in anyway! I love hand stitched labels most, I hand quilt so I figure it makes sense to hand stitch the label too. You have a great selection. Someone suggested to me that it's a good idea to put washing instructions on the label too, what do you think?

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  10. YES!! I'm soooo grateful you shared this post at Tuesday Archives this week under our labels theme as your post offer a wonderful variety and label inspiration. THANK YOU Patty!

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