Creating Quilt Labels (Finishing Quilt Projects)

Happy New Year! I watch the social media flurry as so many artists pick one word to focus on for the year, and I applaud those who can do that! Myself, I can never carve my to-do list down to where one word will do the trick. I will say that I am focusing on Finish what you start. (See, multiple words, LOL!) Okay, so my word for this year is FINISH.

Normally I am rushing to finish a piece that I can take on the road with me to include in the Artistic Artifacts/Batik Tambal booth, and for that usage there’s no requirement for a sleeve or a label. But that is a false sense of completion. So I spent many days over the holiday break sewing sleeves and labels onto many of the quilts that are used as samples in our shop and at shows. And I am not done yet!

I do have a question for you about labels, and would love your feedback in the comments space below, or on our Facebook page, or through our new Meetup group: What do you put on your label?

We recently had a discussion at the shop about to merits of putting the year/date of completion on the quilt. For those of us who have sold our work, is this a bad thing? Can the date be too old? Personally I put the date on the label, because sometimes a show requires that the piece be completed within a specific time.

What else do you put on labels? I put my full name, address, phone number and email address, all in the hopes that if my quilt needs to find me that information is available. Sometimes I also add the materials and techniques used to create the quilt or if the work has appeared in a special exhibit or publication.

I am frequently asked how I create labels for my quilts. Using Microsoft Word or a page layout software, you can, like me, create a rectangle label template using your logo, name, address, phone, email and website. Mine are templated to be 6 labels per 8½" x 11" sheet. I then enter any specific information about the quilt, such as title or materials/techniques. Finally, I print the labels on EQ Printables Premium Cotton Lawn Inkjet Fabric following the manufacturers instructions.

As you can see in these photographs, after cutting my labels out, I stitch 2" strips of coordinating fabric around the label log-cabin style. I then fold those coordinating strips back, giving me a 1" finished edge, and handstitch the entire label to the quilt backing fabric.

Above are photos of labels and sleeves on two of my art quilts! FINISHED!

And here’s another finished piece, previously featured on this blog as it was in process. Below you see that I have added some machine quilting, and applied the binding. (No, not the label. YET!) I am very happy with this quilt... love the border with the mixture of fabrics.

Have you, or would you like to create a quilt using one of our beautiful Hand Drawn Batik Panels? We would love to see what you create! Please email a photo with your full name, the title of quilt, and any information you’d like to share for us to post on our website in the gallery section.