I am a firm believer in the value of putting labels on our quilts. They may not be around forever, but then again they might, and with a label the story of the quilt lives on with it. Writing your name and the date on the back is an easy option. The other end of the scale is to hand-write the entire story of the quilt on a seperate piece of fabric and stitch it on.
But there are many other options somewhere in between. I often print my labels using the computer as I did for this Replique quilt I made for my first book:
When creating labels on the computer photos can be added:
A label can also be embellished in many ways, such as the one for this scarecrow runner I made with my granddaughter’s help:
She helped with the label too!
I wrote a post a few years back on a trick for attaching a label.
Then there was the post where I simply tucked a folded corner label into the binding.
Recently Camille contacted me with a quilt question – and then shared a great technique! I’m sure many of you will find this interesting.
“Hi Chris, I am making a quilt for my sister. She insisted that she wanted 2 quilts, but not separate entities. She wanted one quilt design on the front and another on the back. On one side, she chose a double Irish Chain pattern using spring/summer fabrics. On the other side, there is a more modern design using winter/snow fabrics. Her idea has me flummoxed about a label. A traditional label would spoil the effect of either side. Images are included below.
Many years ago (when I could not imagine I would ever consider the technique) I saw an article about label information being machine embroidered along the length of the binding fabric. The embroidery was done with a thread that matched the fabric closely to produce a discreet but effective label. This would work perfectly to document this quilt without interfering with either of the quilt designs.
I thought you might have written about this but a search did not reveal what I am thinking about. I have not found it with web searches either. Have you run across this idea?”
Before I could respond Camille sent me this:
“Yippee! I found a binding technique similar to what I was looking for!
https://weallsew.com/quilt-binding-words/“
These instructions are on a blog from Bernina and they look very well done. I tried a sample for myself and had a great time learning how to use the alphabets on my new machine.
Now to make a quilt that I can use this technique on. Thanks so much Camille!
Have you created a label in a binding? What was your technique?
Camille’s two sided quilt gave me an idea for another post. Next week – Two Sided Binding for a two sided quilt!
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Wishing each of you a blessed Resurrection Sunday!
Cathy Borneman says
Happy Easter to you and Mike.
Shasta says
Adding the documentation in the binding is such a great idea! If the quilt gets stolen, the thief would have to do a lot to get rid of the documentation. And it looks pretty!
Mary Miller says
Looks like something I may try.
Thanks. Happy Easter!