Monday, January 10, 2011

Quilt Labels


When printing on fabric it is important to either purchase pretreated fabric or make your own, I prefer to make my own, and it gives me control over the fabric used and is cheaper!  I use a product called Bubble Jet Set and Bubble Jet Rinse. I learn about this back in the days when Simply Quilts was on television. I loved watching that show.  Now I hardly watch television at all any more, I can only watch so many home improvement shows, thank goodness for the internet (now if I only had reliable internet connections!)

Using Bubble Jet Set and Rinse:

Shake well and pour solution into flat pan I have a jelly roll pan that I have dedicated to this use.  Saturate fabric in the solution for five minutes.  Allow fabric to dry.  Then iron fabric to the smooth side of freezer paper, cut to fit your printer. Print on treated fabric, and let sit for 30 minutes. Machine wash (delicate Cycle) in cold water with a mild detergent. It’s important to use a detergent in this step.   I like to wash with "Bubble Jet Rinse", I have used it on 100% cotton and silk and they have turned out very nice. I have also  used flannel and a wonderful brushed cotton that were wonderful. I used a HP 2710 printer to print my labels.
( Most of the above comes from the label, I highly recommend reading the label anytime you use chemicals to be on the safe side.)

The first time I tried printing on fabric I was making a memory quilt for my daughter Stephanie, I had ten different pictures of her as a baby assemble and went to town with my editing software and designed a page to print.  Something else I recommend is to fill a page when you do this. Saves money!  Microsoft Word is a great program for laying out your pictures and most of us have it.  Anyway, they printed beautifully, I was so excited to start cutting them out and making the blocks.  Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that you needed to have treated fabric.  I mean, really, printer ink can ruin everything when you are refilling it why wouldn't it stain the fabric I wanted it to!  Well, to make a long story short, some water was spilled in my crafting room and the pictures ran.  I never did get back to making the quilt once I learned how to create the fabric!  Guess I better put that on my “To Do” List!
Here are two examples unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of the others, the quilts yes, but not the labels.  I only do these labels for gifts so....

This label was made with HP Quilt Labels software
I was able to add the picture and a verse for my
daughters
Used clip art and a font in word to create this label, inked it with pigma marker
colored it in with prang crayons.

On my favorite yahoo groups, Stashbuster we were discussing making labels for our quilts.  It may not seem like it but someday, someone will hold your quilt in their hands and wonder who made the quilt? How do I know this, because when my father died, my brother and sister were using an old ragged quilt to line the trailer in moving furniture.  They had no idea that that was the last remaining quilt that our grandmother Ruby Stultz Tillotson had made.  How did I know this fact??  Because I loved quilts and asked my dad.  They didn't realize what they had until I had rescued it from the trailer.  So ladies, LABEL YOUR QUILTS!

2 comments:

gigi said...

I really like your handwritten one, it really adds a special touch

Can you tell me where to get your pattern for the wonderful black and white quilt you have in your header? its wonderful and I have always wanted to try a black and white quilt, thank you so much

gigi said...

oops I just read your comment bummer, thanks anyway for sharing
your quilts