Inked Labels To Remember

Inked Labels To Remember: A Tutorial

Every quilt has a history, and that history should be recorded. A quilt label serves to record a quilt’s history by noting the quiltmaker and the date the quilt was completed. Oftentimes a quilt label might include a short descriptive passage because the quilt has a story. Some quilts are made for someone special or as a tribute to a special event. Some quilts are made for functionality or as decorative art.

Quilt labels are the perfect way to finish a quilt, and a label can become a tiny project to use embellishments such as beads, buttons, laces, and ribbons. Quilt labels are also the perfect idea for inked phrases and personal sentiments. Capture the memories of making your quilt on a quilt label to remember.

Making an inked signature label for a quilt signifies an important time for a quiltmaker since it usually means that a quilt has been completed. Documenting valuable information about a quilt can be added to a quilt label which can quickly be made with found designs. A quilter’s careful inkwork will remain as a testimony of the love of quiltmaking and will survive as a wonderful statement for family, future quiltmakers, and quilt collectors to always treasure.

To begin, determine the size of the label needed. Decide whether the design area on the label will be symmetric or asymmetric. Maybe the label will be an irregular shape. Will the label focus on one particular design? Deside on a possible border, such as twining vines. If a border involves too much planning, choose corner designs.

Design possibilities can include an inked quilt label to reinforce the quilt’s name. For example, an appliqued flower quilt might have an inked quilt label with a small flower design. The label on the right shows a young boy which relates to the boy’s quilt I made called “Little Sails”. Another design possibility is to create an inked quilt label with a left-over or miniature block from the quilt.

Part I: Fabric for Quilt Labels: Selection and Preparation

Select only 100% cotton fabrics. Choose cotton fabrics with a high-thread count for writing ease. Although muslin-type cottons have historically been the fabric found most often with inked signatures and phrases, try experimenting with different cotton fabrics.

There is an enormous variety of cotton fabrics that are ideally suited for inked quilt labels. Some of these fabrics include tone-on-tone cottons, light-colored background prints, stripes, and the large spectrum of solid-color fabrics.  And don’t limit yourself to solids or fabrics that read solid — try working with themed fabric, or fabric with designs. The use of color and fabric-motifs on fabric will undoubtedly add interest to your quilt labels.

Once the fabric has been selected, it must be prewashed. This will eliminate the sizing which may prevent the ink from being absorbed into the fabric correctly and evenly. After washing and drying, the fabric must be ironed well to remove wrinkles.

Before writing on label fabric, the fabric must be stabilized to enable the writing pen to move as freely as possible over the fabric surface. Stabilizing the fabric will prevent the movement of the fabric threads when the pen is moved across the fabric surface. Loosely woven cotton fabrics will wobble when written on. Tightly woven fabrics are made with a high-thread count and will offer the least resistance to the writing pen.

Any attempts to write on fabric which has not been stabilized will cause the fabric to shift, or wobble, under the writing pen during writing. Irregular pen strokes, crooked lines, uneven distribution of the ink, and ink bleeding are several noticeable problems that can occur.

Fabric can be stabilized in several ways:

1. Freezer paper ironed onto the back of the fabric

2. Spray-on starch ironed into the fabric

Each stabilizing method has advantages and disadvantages. While iron-on freezer paper offers the most stabilizing writing surface, it adds an extra layer to the fabric. Although iron-on freezer paper anchors fabric well because the paper has bonded directly with fabric fibers, the paper can be difficult to use when tracing. If a design needs to be traced onto the fabric, a light box will probably be required because of the translucency of the paper and cloth layers. An alternative approach to a light box would be tracing the design sketched onto the paper side of the freezer paper before ironing it onto the fabric. Once the fabric and freezer paper become bonded together, the design can be inked onto the fabric.

With sprayed starch, body is added to fabric by stiffening the fabric’s threads with a starch solution. This starch firms up the fabric for writing and has eliminated the need for the freezer paper layer. Many brands of spray starch are available. But only one brand has been recommended with consistence, which is Magic Sizing Spray Starch.

The blank quilt label on the left was made using a mitered fabric border and has been prepared for inking with freezer paper. The freezer paper ironed to the back is slightly larger than the quilt label to facilitate its removal when the label
has been completed.

Part II: Writing Pens

The permanent marking pen is obviously the most important tool to use when writing on fabric. Several brands are available for purchase, and the fabric marking pen that most choose is the Pigma Micron pen. Each brand offers varying tip sizes. Experiment with several of these pens and pen tip sizes to determine which pens are preferable.

Controlling the Pen: The tip of a writing pen, or the stylus, can vary in size. The stylus size will determine the width of the penned line, the size of the marked dots, and the overall flow of ink from the pen. The lower the stylus size, the smaller the stylus. A small, or fine-tip, stylus is necessary for detailed work. A large stylus size indicates a large stylus area which is well suited for area shading or coloring. A personal preference is a Pigma Micron .005 for very fine, detailed work, and a Pigma Micron .02 or .03 for area coloring. The Pigma Brush pens are also good for filling color into areas.

Part III: Designs

Many quilters are artistic and can sketch their own designs for inked embellishments. Original-design pencil drawings will need to be darkened with a fine tip pen. Once the sketch has been darkened, the design can be traced onto stabilized fabric.

Copy-art and clip-art books, which are copyright-free design books filled with motifs, are a good source for embellishment designs. These designs can be copied or can be used as inspiration for an original design. If a found design is used, use a photocopy for easy tracing. (The best source for copy-art is with Dover Publications books).

A personal source for banners and scrolls is my personal collection of mounted 19th century photographs. Each photography studio had a logo which, oftentimes, included a scroll or banner. These treasures are copyright-free designs, and can be reproduced legally.

Another wonderful source for artwork is 19th century magazines. These magazines offer a variety of vintage designs, borders, and Victorian-style artwork. Whatever the source, a found design will need to be photocopied, for easiest tracing.

Other sources of artistic inspiration about, just increase your awareness and keep your eyes open! Be sure to look at the display advertisements in newspapers and magazines. Many display ads have borders surrounding the advertisement. These borders are almost always copyright-free ‘clip art’, and can easily be cut from the daily paper and saved for later tracing.

Part IV: Inking: Letters and Designs on Fabric

Working with fabric which has been stabilized, words and designs can be transferred easily onto fabric by free-hand or tracing. Most quilters are hesitant to sketch inked designs or pen beautifully inked phrases directly onto stabilized fabric. Most rely on designs which can be traced with the aid of a lightbox. A lightbox is a piece of equipment that allows easy tracing because of the light source directly underneath a flat writing surface. The light will brighten the writing surface so that the traceable design is easy to see while tracing. Tracing designs and letters offer many advantages. Centering a motif or a phrase is an easy accomplishment when tracing. Also, accurately duplicating a traced design is fool-proof and quick.

Lettering

A pre-printed, or previously traced word can be traced directly onto fabric which has been stabilized. This technique allows the word to be easily centered on the fabric. Working from your own handwriting or a different style of lettering, a word or sentence can be pre-printed and then traced later.

There are many fonts available on computer software. Many of these fonts can offer variety with lettering for a different or ‘designer look’. To do this with word processing software, type and space the content of your quilt label into the body of a new document using the font you have chosen. Once you are content with the layout of the content typed, print the text onto paper. From the printed paper, the stylized letters can be traced onto fabric. Pencil-in a ruled guideline on the paper-side of freezer paper for the letter base, and begin copying from left-to-right.

Working free-hand, a signature which has been inked on fabric can be flourished by adding curlicues, additional pen strokes, or joined initials.

Working with free-hand signature phrases, the problem of centering words arises. Unless a practice piece has been made, centering words and phrases on a fabric square or an inked signature emblem design can be eliminated by using masking tape. Write each word on a small section of masking tape, just as it would appear on the finished friendship block or signature emblem. Each word gets its own piece of tape. Lay out the phrase, add spaces where needed and make adjustments, if necessary.

Shading and Filling the Design Areas

Once the design has been inked onto the fabric, the traced design can be completed. Outlined areas may need to be touched up, and several areas may require depth definition. Additionally, color may be added to fill areas within a design or a motif. To suggest the illusion of depth, shading is required. As an area is shaded, remember the location of an imaginary light source and shade accordingly.

Shading can be accomplished with small dots, fine lines (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal), fine cross-hatching, and combinations of lines and dots.
Finishing the Inking Process

When the inked portion of a quilt label design is finished, it must be heat-set with a dry iron for approximately 60 seconds. Once set, the ink will remain permanently bonded to the fabric fibers. At this time, the inked quilt label is ready to be added to your quilt.

A Label To Ink

Try inking this quilt label I created!