New Clothing Tags for 2012

I made new tags for my home sewn garments last week, and this time I decided to go for a little camp. Let's face it; I'm campy.

The image was lifted from Butterick 6517 (my image at the Vintage Pattern Wiki), and I just used a label template on Microsoft Publisher for the layout. I printed to iron on transfer paper, and ironed the sheet on muslin before cutting it into tags. Sometimes I sew them in, but lately I have been simply fusing them with a double sided fusible web. Here is a link to my post on last year's tags.

Interestingly, I discovered I can print directly to fabric. I was wondering if it were possible, so I just starched the hell out of an 8 1/2" by 11" piece of muslin and ran it through my inkjet printer with my fingers crossed. It came through fine, without even a hint of a jam (but please don't hold me liable if you try this and your printer jams up!) Of course, without anything to seal the ink in the fabric, it washes out easily. I am thinking about experimenting with Scotch Guard spray or something of that nature to seal the ink in. I'll let you know what I come up with.....

Homemade Custom Sew-in Tags

Today I took a break from a biggie sewing project I have been working on to do a small and satisfying project. I have wanted my own sew-in labels for my handmade clothing for some time, and I was originally planning to order some. Instead I did a Google search for sew-in tags, and I found this tutorial. I had everything I needed to make these, so I decided to give it a whirl.

I love them! I think they turned out very nicely, and I spent some time this afternoon sewing them into some of my handmade garments. I do come across home sewn clothing frequently in the thrift shops, and I always wonder about who made the items and when. Well, if anyone ever comes across mine they will know when they were made, and they can stop on by in the virtual sense if they are curious to know who is sewing formal spring capes in the year 2011.