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For awhile now I’ve been wanting my own fabric tags. So I’ve been ordering samples… But when I really think about it, I just don’t want to (well, okay, I can’t afford to) buy hundreds of them for hundreds of dollars. I also don’t want to buy 10 of them for $25. All the services I could find either required too much of an investment for a lifetime supply (and what if I wanted to change the look or “brand” in a couple of years?) or were just too pricey for an amount I’d want.
So I looked into making my own. One of the suggestions was using iron-on transfers on ribbon, or simply using ribbon alone. I got some plain white ribbon, and tried both those methods as well as writing on it with a fabric pen… but it just looked so unprofessional.
Another suggestion was to use Spoonflower, but – while I really plan/hope to use them soon for other reasons – I would be spending about $20 without being sure if this method of making tags works, or works right for me.
Another suggestion was to use printable fabric. So when I saw some printable fabric sheets at Joann’s on Friday, I contemplated getting it… but would it be too stiff and itchy to put on clothes? Would it fade and fray easily? Would so much of the ink rinse off during that initial rinsing that they would look way more faded than paper printing? Finally I decided that I’d just try it, pulled out my coupon and bought a pack. It came out to about $8, and I figured if it didn’t work out for making tags I could always use it for something else.
But the tags came out great! On one sheet I can get 40 single-sided tags (or 20 double sided tags – I printed them in such a way that I can cut all of them either way). They’re not stiff, and they look pretty much exactly the same as the test sheets I printed on paper.
And they just look so professional! I put some on this test bag to see how they fray when cut and sewn in different ways (I don’t have any fray check), but soon I’ll be putting them on bags I sell. (And check out that beautiful snow and sunshine outside today – perfect for taking pictures! If only my window sill wasn’t so ugly from just being re-caulked yesterday…)
Speaking of bags, I’ve been learning to make various types of bags from free Craftsy classes. Oh how I love how those classes are done! The free classes have swayed me to purchase some classes when I get some money… not to mention taught me some useful stuff!
In other news… I’ve been doing horribly with my New Year’s resolution to buy less patterns. I’ve been doing great with all the rest, though! I’ve been using wool, and the only acrylic I’ve bought has been for gifts & swaps; I haven’t added any acrylic to my stash this year (or at least, since I posted my resolutions; I can’t quite remember what day I bought 3 skeins of DK acrylic, but I’m not going to count that). And my etsy shop isn’t empty. I’ve just been buying a lot of patterns. And not actually using any of them yet. Sigh.
I am almost done with that test knit sweater – only the belt left! And on the 12 th I will start to use one of the patterns I bought for a mystery KAL. It will be a sweater for myself, and hopefully the mystery KAL will encourage me to actually finish it; I’ve knit and crocheted several sweaters for the kids, but have yet to finish one for myself!
I’m off, so much crafting and housework to do >.<