Sunday 19 May 2013

Fabric Tag Tutorial

Hi! So I said I would post about how I made this lovely tag... so here's a tutorial!

Fabric tag!



What you need:

  • Scrap fabric with batting, at least 3''x5'' in length. If you have a bigger piece, don't cut it smaller, we will quilt the 1 piece of fabric & batting and a larger size is less fiddly to do this on
  • Piece of fabric in a lighter color that will be the 'message' side.
  • Scissors, pencil for marking, pins.
  • Button-hole making skills.

I would say that you need some basic sewing skills- quilting, top stitching, and making a button hole. In reality, you're making a tag and it doesn't need to be perfect. I'm a beginner quilter and I managed to make a half-decent one!

Tag Tutorial

1. Quilt your scrap fabric- I had this laying around from the end of my baby quilt. I quilted the 1 piece of fabric and batting together using diagonal lines, but you could try free-motion quilting if you're feeling adventurous.

The piece I used was approx 7''x 6'' but it doesn't matter because you'll trim it down after this step.

Scraps of fabric & batting from my quilt

I quilted the top in diagonal lines...

...or try free-motion quilting and follow along with the fabric pattern!

2. Trim your quilted piece to 3''x 5''. Cut your lighter fabric to have the same dimensions.

Neutral fabric on the left, quilted fabric on the right.

3. Now take a pencil and mark two diagonal lines so we can get the diagonal shape at the top of the tag. My picture shows that I used my 45 degree lines on my cutting mat and I used those to make the tag top symmetric. Do not cut these lines yet.

I drew on two diagonal lines to make the top of the tag.

4. Place the two pieces of fabric right-sides together, pin. We are leaving the bottom open so the tag can be turned inside out after. Starting in the bottom corner, use a 1/8'' seam and sew up and around to the other side, leaving the bottom open. I pretended the diagonal lines I drew at the top were the edges, so I sewed inside of it. It's not a big deal if you sew on top of the lines, we're cutting the excess off anyways.

Leave the bottom of the tag open. Use ~1/8 inch seam and sew to the other bottom corner, leaving the bottom open (so it can be turned inside out after).

5. Now cut the corners off the ends off the tag. Now is a good time to assess if this looks symmetrical. If not, just run a couple of stitches on one of the sides to even it up. 

This is what your tag should look like. See the bottom is open. Sorry I didn't think what color of thread I was using on this step!

6. Turn the tag right-side out. Fold the fabric in on the bottom, pin and steam.

Fold up the bottom edges so the raw ends are inside the tag. I turned it in approx 1/4''.

Front view, before sewing. It's looking like a tag now.

7. Close up the bottom edge with ~1/8'' top stitch, and continue around the entire tag. This was a little tricky to do, but just use a consistent distance around the entire tag, pivotting at the corners & continuing to the end. Backstitch to secure. 

See my tag, this is the bottom corner.



 8. Create a button hole at the top, so a ribbon can feed through. Make sure you line up the centre of the buttonhole to the centre of the tag!

I have an automatic buttonhole feature on my machine. I simply put the foot on, choose my width of buttonhole, and push the pedal. It creates the buttonhole in 1 continuous process and I watch in amazement :)

I played around with some parameters and decided '10' works for me... your machine will be different so I would suggest practicing on a scrap piece of fabric to see how you want your button hole.


My buttonhole foot.
Husqvarna Sapphire 835 buttonhole parameters

I tested two sizes, 16 and 10. I prefer 10. I then marked on my tag where I needed the needle to start to create the buttonhole.

9. You're done! Write a message, I used a regular ball-point pen because I can't imagine anyone would actually wash this tag. Whatever pen you use, TEST IT on a scrap piece of fabric before you write on your tag so you can make sure the ink doesn't bleed!!

Finished result. Tie a ribbon through this and write a message!

Tag from the baby quilt that I made last week... blogged here
Thanks for reading! If you have any questions just leave a comment below and I will do my best to clarify things. 
~knittypie