Thursday, October 25, 2007

Make your own personalized labels

I got the idea to make this when I came across this site.

ETA: (April 26, 2008) I just found a very helpful tutorial on printing your logo/design on the iron-on transfer paper.

Here are my own tutorial pics to help you out if you're trying it the first time. Even following these steps will not guarantee that you won't be spoiling some of the materials, but a little practice will result in pleasing results ;) Now you don't need to order personalized labels, which doesn't come cheap anyway. And most of all you can experiment with your own designs. Have fun!
Aside from your reliable computer and inkjet printer and Iron, you'll need these:
Iron-on transfer paper;
Satin ribbons - these are the only ones I tried so far...it would be good to experiment on whatever you have at hand.
Also shown on photo is half of the transfer paper already printed with my own personalized label design. You can also print photos or graphics with your design. Remember you need to print a mirror image of your design.










Cut the printed iron-on transfer paper to correspond to the size of your ribbons.



Put the right side of the transfer paper on the right side of the ribbon.
You need a hard heat-resistant surface to iron on...(I used the part of my ironing board that is not padded.)
With the back of the paper facing you, press with iron that has been heated almost to the max. (It also depends on your iron, and you will know what works best after the first few tries) Press for about 20-30 secs. When its not so hot to touch, check that the paper has already adhered to the ribbon. If the edges are loose, press with iron again, until it has completely adhered. Then you can peel off the paper backing like you would a sticker.






Voila! You have your own personalized label





Sew on to your latest FO :)

12 comments:

  1. Awesome idea....I LOVE IT!!! THANKS!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is so awesome, Mimi! I KNOW I would mess them up for sure, though. :( You are so talented. It looks great in your sweater.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've been wondering about making this one for my own shirt designs but darn it! Iron transfers for inkjet printer is just way too expensive. But I want to make something small, like ribbon labels for the gifts that I made.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your labels look wonderful, Mimi!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I found your tutorial from Crochetville... What a great way to make labels. I would have never thought of that! Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks all for your comments! I would be so glad to see some other handmade labels made with the help of this tutorial ;)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks so much for sharing this!

    Do we need to use photo quality ink? I am afraid the regular printer ink will run or wash out when laundered - especially if someone has an older printer.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi, that's a good question. I used the regular printer ink, on normal setting. But its the original one, and not refill ink. Maybe photo quality ink would be much better.
    Btw, I don't think the ink will wash out when laundered, since the iron-on transfer paper, once ironed, would seal in the ink.

    ReplyDelete
  9. That's so cool! Thanks for the tutorial!

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a great idea. I was trying to find a label that wouldn't scratch the babies heads...thanks! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thank you for sharing! Found your tutorial from Ravelry. This has saved my bacon for Christmas this year, as i didn't think of tagging an FO until less than 2 wks before.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for visiting my blog!