A custom clothing label is the perfect finishing touch for any handmade item. Caitlin, Spoonflower crew member and owner of online fabric shop Salty Oat, shares how to create a fabric label featuring a logo or sweet sentiment—ideal for handcrafted goods to stock an Etsy shop or a special gift stitched up for a dear friend.
As someone who sews both gifts and products to sell, I’ve learned the importance of labeling my work. Labels are a great way to brand your work with your company’s logo and give it a professional finish when selling items online or in person. Labels can also be a great way to add a sweet message to a handmade gift or personalize it for the recipient.
Creating Labels with Adobe Photoshop
In today’s tutorial, I’ll share one way to create labels through Spoonflower that would be excellent for zipper pouches, throw pillows, quilts, clothing, pincushions, and anything else you can dream up.
To start, you’ll want to create a simple label using your preferred design program. In this case, I used Photoshop and created a 2.5” x 1.5” rectangle at 150 dpi.
Keeping in mind that the label would be folded in half, I created two text boxes, one for each side of the label. When determining the placement of the text, remember that the top and bottom edges of the rectangles will lose some white space to the hems, and the ends will be sewn into a seam, so leave at least a ¼” all around. You can insert your brand’s logo, or you can add your own text, like “Made in North Carolina” or “You’re my Favorite.”
Ordering Labels on Spoonflower
Once you’ve saved your image, you’re ready to order. I uploaded my fabric labels to the Spoonflower site and set my repeat to Basic. For this project, I chose, and recommend, Cotton Poplin. It’s a lightweight fabric with a crisp hand, which is perfect for labels. A test swatch yielded 15 labels, which will keep me well stocked for a while.
How to Cut (and Sew!) Your Fabric Labels
Once you receive your fabric, you’re ready to start cutting. Cut your fabric into strips using a rotary cutter, cutting mat, and clear ruler (or a sharp pair of scissors).
Once the strips are cut, load a rolled-hem foot onto your sewing machine. This is an excellent foot for creating those small, clean hems you see on silk scarves and cotton handkerchiefs. Using the rolled-hem foot will allow you to professionally finish the edges of your labels, so that they don’t fray.
Hem the sides of each of the label strips, and then cut them down into individual labels. Now you’re ready to add them to your projects by simply sewing them into your items’ seams.
What the Finished Labels Look Like
In my case, I added a fabric label with my company’s logo to a zipper pouch, and a “Handmade with Love” label to a pincushion I made from a Wild Olive design I embroidered by hand. I simply folded the labels in half, pinned them to the outer edges of my cut fabric pieces, and sewed as usual.
Do you try to label everything you make? By making a set of labels in advance, you’re always ready to personalize your work, even at the last minute!
I would like to learn how to make my own fabric labels for my projects I give as gifts. I have no idea what I need. I read a post online and they use your website. I have a Mac computer and was wondering if I need a certain program? I got the impression the person who used your site used your site somehow to design labels. Help!
Hi Pansy,
This “Creating Custom Fabric Labels with Photoshop” blog post you commented on should give you the right steps to create custom fabric labels quickly and easily! Adobe Photoshop is available for Mac computers and you can download that from the Adobe Photoshop website either through a full purchase of the program or a cheaper alternative of subscribing for access for a certain rate per month.
Crafty regards,
Anna
Spoonflower
Hello, is it possible to fix the image broken links? i am really interested int his article but would like to see the examples 🙂
Thank you for letting us know about the broken links. They have been updated.
Best,
Amy
Spoonflower
washable??
Hi Jennifer,
Our custom labels are indeed washable and you can learn more about Spoonflower care instructions here!
Thanks for the tips! I’m in dire need of some new tags but didn’t know which fabric would be best. 🙂
Outstanding article! Thank you so much. I\’ve already ordered my custom labels.
Thank you for the information. I love the hemmed label.
Thanks for your idea could you email me instructions for creating one in photo shop. Please and thank you!
Hi Linda,
This tutorial is specific to Photoshop but if you have specific questions about the tutorial, please let us know!
I LOVE your HAND MADE WITH LOVE tags. It’s exactly what I’m wanting. Is it possible to order them on here without designing my own?
Hi Kayla,
Thanks so much for stopping by! You’re in luck – Caitlin has made these DIY labels for sale in her Spoonflower shop, available here.
What if you don’t have photo shop or anything like it.. Can I use paint?
As long as you can create text in the program and save it into one of our accepted file formats, you can use Paint!
Thank you so much for this tutorial which I\’ve just found. I\’ve been looking into getting some labels made for the tea towels, pouches and pillows I make with my Spoonflower fabrics but the cost is prohibitively expensive. This sounds like a great alternative and I can\’t wait to have a go.
This seems like a stupid question, but what happens if I am unable to use a rolled-hem foot (or any foot, for that matter) to finish the edges of my labels? Will they for sure fray?
Do you think they would fray if I printed my logo on the bias?
I’m just not very experienced at sewing such a small seam, and I’d love if I could just cut the labels and be ready to sew them in my project.
You can also make them extra wide, fold them over inside-out and sew a regular seam, then pink them and turn the label right side out. Then you have one open side to sew into your garment seam.
I hear you! I would recommend pinking the labels or simply cutting them with regular straight scissors and using fray check on the edges instead. Hope this helps!
Thank you!
Great idea! Thank you very much!
Thanks Caitlin! It is very inspiring!
really cool! I like definitely like this idea for handmade“>https://www.etsy.com/shop/StationeryNPresents”>handmade creations.
and ‘love’ in lable name makes my heart warmer 🙂
I’m making pillows for my entire family, to give to them next Christmas. I want to put a personalized label on them, but I wasn’t sure how to do it. This is an extremely easy, and affordable way that I can personalize each pillow I’m giving them! Thank you so much, this will save me so much time and frustration!
Label Manufacturing
Merci pour ce tuto!!!! super!!! <3
Hi Catherine,
This is certainly doable in PicMonkey! You can take this concept and complete it in whatever design software you're most comfortable with.
Best,
Allie
Hi Katie,
When you're finishing creating your design in Photoshop, you will select file–>save. Next you will name your file and select JPEG from the drop down menu.
Hope this helps!
Best,
Allie
Great idea. I would add small marks at the corners so you know where to cut without having to measure.
do you save the photoshop file as a jpeg?
Thanks! I’ve been thinking about making these! Do you think it’s do-able in Pic Monkey? (My computer with photoshop is on the fritz). Either way…great tutorial!
Oh thanks! This is really helpful!
Thanks, Andrea!
Love this! Wonderful idea:)
Thank you, Lilibet!
Thanks, Kelleigh! It’s always nice to be able to fit your project onto a test swatch!
Thank you, that’s a great idea!
Thanks Caitlin! I love that you features a test sample for those of us who DEFINITELY don’t need a yard of these.