How to Make a Tee Shirt Label

If you're looking for a quick and easy way to make labels for your handmade or custom tee shirt, you've come to the right place. Creating a special handmade tee shirt tag only requires a little bit of work and some art supplies you might just have around your house.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 1 yard of thick cotton muslin
• Sponge paintbrush
• Fabric paint
• Small-sized number/letter stencil set
• Pinking shears
• Newspaper
• Paper plate
• Pencil
• Sewing machine
• White thread

How to Make a Tee Shirt Tag

1. 
   Fabric paint

   Prep the area where you'll be working. Work in a well-ventilated area and place your work materials on a table. Make sure you place old newspaper on your table to protect its finish from any paint drippings. Place all of your materials on the table on top of the old newspapers where they can be easily reached and seen. Squeeze out a dime-sized amount of each color you plan on using for your tee shirt label onto your paper plate. Do a test run with a square piece of paper and the stencil kit in order to get the placement of your lettering just right.

2. 
   Stencil set

   Begin to evenly divide your fabric by using your ruler and No. 2 pencil. If you have 1 yard of fabric that's 36 inches long by 44 inches wide, you can evenly divide this into rectangles that are 3 inches by 2 inches. These should be large enough to stencil on but small enough to fit snugly and discreetly in a tee shirt. Use your pinking shears to cut your labels all out. Use the stencil test you did in the previous step to help align where your words will go. Draw a light line across your square to mark this.

3. 
   Sponge paintbrush

   Use the paint you squeezed onto the paper plate to stencil in your letter. Line up your letters across the light pencil line you drew. Dip your sponge into the paint and begin dabbing the paint onto the fabric. The motion should feel as if you're poking the fabric with the sponge brush. Repeat for each individual square. Allow each square to dry for up 4 hours.

4. Place your tags into your tee shirt. Set up your sewing machine and prep it to insert your tags. Turn your tee shirt inside out, line up one edge of your square with the neck edge and place your tag face-up in the middle of the back of your tee shirt. Sew a straight line across the neck edge and lined-up square edge. Make sure you back-stitch both ends in order to ensure stability of the seam.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure to keep your work area organized to ensure that your tags don't get misplaced or ruined.
• Practice caution when using the sewing machine so your fingers don't get caught. Also make sure you work in a ventilated area.