Labels, Labels, Labels...

 

As a creature of habit, I tend to find something that works and stick with it. 

When I began weaving and gifting my work, I wanted to personalize them with my own bespoke labels. 

The woven tags were cost-prohibitive, but I found some lovely satin ones that worked well. I have ordered thousands of labels over the years from ikaprint on Etsy. 

The vast majority of gifted items were cotton tea towels with a few cottolin and cotton/hemp blends. I was not concerned about including care instructions because my friends would wash and use them as they chose. It did not matter if they used hot or cold water, I just asked they not be bleached  

Last year, when I had over 75-yards of sarong fabric on two looms, I knew to maintain the supple, drapey feel of the loosely woven cloth, they would have to be washed in cold and hung to dry. In addition to verbally passing this information along, I decided to add appropriate labels.

Again, the personalized woven ones were pricey, but I did find these standard care labels that worked on the sarongs with hems. 

While a few of the sarongs had fringe, the majority went to their new homes with these labels  

I also found and ordered these labels to try something new, but for a sheet of 24 labels, they were over $30!

I love them, but other than cutting them out, I have yet to use them. They had the wrong laundry care instructions on them for the sarongs.

Also, another issue with the standard care labels are their size. They are tiny.

Now that I have just completed a run of sarongs with all fringe, instead of hemmed ends, and have dozens more to be woven on another loom, I knew I needed sew-on labels. 

I have used Avery products to print address labels, canning labels, and labels for my handmade soaps, as well as the husband’s home brew beer. I knew they had a cloth sheet, which could be ironed on or sewn onto fabric. I was also aware they had a library of templates for each of their products  

I bought their printable fabric sheets from Amazon.

Avery Printable Fabric Sheets, 8.5" x 11", Inkjet Printer, 5 Iron On Transfer Sheets (3384). 

I measured the expensive printed ones at 1.25” x 2.25”.

I then went to Avery and searched for their products. Avery #6871 had labels 1 1/4” x 2 3/8”. These were close enough and yielded 18 per page.

Once I selected #6871, I clicked on create a project and poured over 900 templates. I selected one, edited it, and printed it on plain paper. 

It looked good, so I inserted a cloth sheet face down and printed my labels.

Using a paper cutter, I cut them out.

I ironed one onto a sarong and sewed it securely.

Voila!

A package of five sheets was $12.95. At 18 per sheet, that is 90 labels, a far cry from 24 labels for more than $30. Plus, I can change the care information on each sheet to suit my needs.

For my tea towels and hand towels, I am content to continue to use my satin labels; however, I am psyched to have the flexibility to change them as required.

Yay!

On a related note: Last year I also bought these cool leather tags for the slew of beanies I needed for all the guys in my life.

Those were also from Etsy. I am sensing a pattern here…