July 2012 – See my 6 month follow up here
Spoonflower is so hot right now in the home sewing world; and with good reason! Where else can you get your own design printed onto small quantities of fabric for a reasonable price? I’m not sure if you’ve ever looked into having labels made, but it is expensive. You have to get a minimum quantity and you are typically limited in the font and colours. But using Spoonflower, I’ve got at least 500 hundred labels, all for only $25.
I didn’t want to use the name ‘thingsforboys’ on the labels, as I thought it would look a bit funny on a dress, so I went with ‘Autumn Street’. The name is dear to my heart and I have hubby to thank for suggesting to use it.
If you’re not into making your own labels, it’s still a pretty place to waste some time instead of doing the dishes or going to bed. There are so many cute designs and it really makes you realise how many talented people there are out there.
I have seen quite a few people blogging about this, but I’ve decided to do mine a little different/better. I have printed my labels on the bias so that I don’t have to fold over the edges on the little labels and burn my fingers with the iron in the process. Because they’re cut out on the bias, the edges don’t fray and the labels don’t fall off. See how the labels are holding up after 6 months here.
Here’s how to make your labels on the bias:
Make your label, leaving a bit of white space on all sides so that you still have the option to fold over the edges. I recommend adding a light coloured border around the edges to use as a guide when cutting them up.
Once you’ve got a single label copy and paste it 4 times, lining them up in a grid. Copy and paste the block to make a bigger block. Repeat this many, many, many times to make up a large block of labels.
If you’re using Photoshop, you can follow this clever little step by step on the Spoonflower blog to use your single image as a tile to fill your space. I wish I had read this before I did mine, but anyway…
To fill 1 yard of fabric from Spoonflower, you need to make your image 60 inches by 60 inches and at least 150 dpi. I used 300 dpi and the resolution on the printed labels is great. Once it’s full, rotate it 45°. You’ll now have a diamond of labels in the middle of a white square. Crop your canvas size down to 42 inches wide, and 36 inches tall and it should be full of labels. This is the exact size you need for one yard of fabric.
Now save it and upload it to Spoonflower to make your labels. The only tip I have is to make sure that you set the correct dpi so that your labels come out the right size.
The hardest part is waiting for your fabric to arrive. Then you can go crazy and label anything and everything you’ve ever made.
Elizabeth says
Just as I was falling asleep last night, I started thinking about labels- where to get them, are they expensive, do I need them, can I make them…- serendipity!
thingsforboys says
Serendipity indeed! It’s definitely the way to go.
KimmChi says
such a great tip!
Muggs says
Do you mind me asking what program you used to do all the copy and pasting of your design? The design that I made is a .jpg file and was wondering if that’s how you had yours.. Please help!
thingsforboys says
Hi Muggs – I just used Photoshop, but you could do it in any graphics editing software. My image was a .jpg too.
thingsforboys says
Also, I just added this above, but if you are using Photoshop, here’s a much easier way to do the tiling on the Spoonflower blog
Muggs says
Wow, I totally did not see that when I was reading through your steps! Thanks for re-posting for me! I am going to give it a go! wish me luck 🙂
Viv says
This is awesome, great post!
Anonymous says
Just wondering, which fabric did you get your labels printed on from Spoonflower? Thanks! 🙂
thingsforboys says
I just used the quilting weight cotton. It was just before the new Kona quilting cotton came in.
Anonymous says
Hi! I am trying to print on spoonflower (tile effect) but when my image repeats it is very close together not leaving room for me to cut between images. In my case, the image is a little cartoon figure. How do you get space around your image, as you did with “autumn street”? Any advice is greatly appreciated! And love yr blog!
thingsforboys says
Hi Anon – you’ll have to use photoshop or another editing tool to add extra white space around the sides of the image. You can’t add the whitespace in spoonflower. Hope that helps 🙂
Anonymous says
Thanks!
Anonymous says
hello have you tried the A4 printable fabric comes in 5 sheets and is about $17.00+ but you do get about 30 labels per sheet, i used publisher to design mine and printed as a label size then it prints out so many and you also have a gap inbetween the labels to cut can stick viseflix on the back but you do have to sew it on still.
thingsforboys says
I’m sure the printable fabric would work great. The only reason I haven’t tried it is that we have a laser printer, and I’ve never come across it in a shop. Oh, and I thought the idea of getting it made from Spoonflower was pretty cool!
Cody says
Positively brilliant!
Janelle @ Emmaline says
great post, Abby! thank you!!
Dasha says
Thank you for your tutorial! I was just thinking about making me some pretty labels 🙂
Scary says
So I am guessing by looking at your fabric that you drew the box around each label?
thingsforboys says
I did a light border around each to help with cutting them out, although to be honest, I don’t really use it. I would still probably put it on again though if I did a re-print.
Nicole says
Darn it! Just ordered “real” labels, but I might try this anyway. Brilliant!
thingsforboys says
you should have less fiddling with the real labels at least, but keep it in mind for next time!
Aja Lor says
Hi!
When you crop the canvas size down to 42 inches wide and 36 inches tall, do you keep the white diamond or is the yard only made up of labels?
Thanks so much for this tutorial!
thingsforboys says
Once you crop it down, the yard will be entirely made up of labels.
Lana says
So probably amateur question- but would using pinking shears to cut them out increase their fray resistance or diminish it when printing on the bias? It works in my head.
abby says
If they are printed on the bias, then when you cut with pinking shears, you are trimming the edges back to a straight grain, so they would technically be more likely to fray. I’m not sure how much difference it would make in reality.