How to make a quilt label using permanent marking pens

Happy Tuesday! Have you had a chance to look at yesterday’s tutorial on making a quilt label using hand embroidery?

Today I’ll share with you how I make quilt labels using UNIQUE Sewing Permanent Fabric Pens and UNIQUE Sewing Laundry Marking Pens. These labels are very easy to make, affordable, quick to complete, and with a little creativity, you can make your labels look extra special.

Labels are a perfect way to document the hard work done on your quilts:

My quilted inspiration:

Supplies you’ll need to make these labels:

• 12″ x 12″ Piece 100% Cotton Fabric, I used Fabric Creations Cotton in white
• UNIQUE Sewing Permanent Fabric Pen recommended
• UNIQUE Sewing Laundry Marking Pen (or a pen recommended for fabric marking and laundering)
• LDH 9″ Pinking Sheers
• Fabric Fun Markers
• Scraps of fabric to match your quilt for backing of the label
• Thread for decorative sewing and to match your fabric
• Blue wash-out marker (optional)
• Sewing machine (with decorative stitches optional)
• Freezer paper (optional)
• Buttons, embroidery embellishments (optional)
• Serger with a rolled hem or fine stitch (optional)

Note: Use a permanent fabric marking pen only. Do not use other permanent pens, as they may not be permanent on fabric.

Important Note & Caution: I performed a laundry test on fabric with the pens used in this post prior to making the labels, and all pens maintained their color after washing and drying. They’re in fact permanent, so try not to get them on your clothing. They’re fantastic for labels though, and will withstand laundering.

How to Make a label using the UNIQUE Sewing Permanent Fabric Pen:

1. Cut 2 – 12″ x 12″ pieces of white cotton. I used Fabric Creations 100% Cotton Fabric in white.

2. Iron the shiny side of freezer paper to the back of your fabric (you may also use a stiff stabilizer). This helps to stiffen the fabric for easier printing with your pens.  This step is optional but very helpful.

3. To find the center, fold your fabric in half and then in half again; mark the center with a blue wash-out marker.

4. Draw lines on your fabric with a blue wash-out marker and a ruler.

Note: I recommend having the text for your label written out on paper beforehand. Use it as a reference, so you can mark without errors.

5. Using your UNIQUE Sewing Permanent Fabric Pen, mark out each word; remove freezer paper cut around the label with pinking sheers. I used LDH 9″ Pinking Sheers to prevent fraying.

6. Prepare your background fabric by cutting it as desired, or at least 1″ larger than your label, and serge the edges if you can. Serging is so easy and if you’re hand-sewing the label to your quilt, serging is swift and the stitches still hold. I used a fine rolled hemstitch.

7. Gather up some machine embroidery needles and thread. I used SCHMETZ size 75 needles and Gütermann Dekor Rayon Thread to decorate around the edge.

8. Choose a decorative stitch to go with your quilt theme and stitch close to the edge of the pinked edges, as shown:

9. Center the white label onto the background fabric and pin in place. Topstitch close to the edge, but don’t interfere with the beautiful decorative stitches. Add buttons and beads and embellish as you like. Then stand back and admire your efforts!

How to make a label with a UNIQUE Sewing Laundry Marking Pen:

Follow the same instructions as for the UNIQUE SEWING Permanent Fabric Pen label, with two exceptions. You’ll see I did not add any additional embellishments or embroidery stitching to the edge of the label; instead, I topstitched the label to the serged background fabric with white thread and a straight-stitch. To embellish, I simply drew decorative pink lines, in e and o shapes, around the edge of the label using Fabric Fun Fabric Markers as shown below:

I hope you’ll try these easy labels made with UNIQUE Sewing Permanent Fabric Pens, UNIQUE Sewing Laundry Marking Pens and Fabric Fun Fabric Markers. They are a fun and inexpensive way to document your beautiful quilted works of art. Ask for them at your local sewing retailer.

Fabric Fun Fabric Markers are permanent, too, and so versatile. Join me tomorrow when I expand on using Fabric Fun Fabric Markers to make another great quilt, with a label to match!

This is part 2 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 1: 5 ways to creatively label your quilting projects

Go to part 3: How to make a quilt label with Fabric Fun Fabric Markers