How to Make Your Own Fabric Labels on Twill Tape

Whether you need labels to adorn handmade items of clothing and sewing projects or simply want creative tags to identify the contents of baskets, boxes and bins, make a set of personalized fabric labels. Create the labels with twill tape, a ribbon-like sewing notion designed to reinforce the edges of garments and sold at sewing, craft and scrapbooking shops. Available in an assortment of weights, colors and widths, twill tape features a soft surface perfect for rubber stamping and stitching.

Things You'll Need

• Scrap paper
• Twill tape
• Scissors
• 1/2-inch alphabet rubber stamps
• Solvent ink
• Other rubber stamps as desired
• Paper flower, button or rhinestones
• Fabric glue

Instructions

1. Place sheets of scrap paper on your work table to protect the surface from stamping ink residue or scratches caused by sewing needles.

2. Cut a piece of twill tape that's 2 inches longer than the desired length of the label. If you want the twill tape label to be 2 inches long, for example, cut a 4-inch-long piece. This will give you enough tape to create an edge on either side for sewing to the garment.

3. Rest the piece of twill tape on the scrap paper and use 1/2-inch-tall alphabet rubber stamps to add a name or message to the label. Stamp the first letter one inch in from the left edge of the twill tape using solvent ink that won't bleed or smear on the fabric.

4. Embellish the twill tape label with an accent placed to the right of the stamped text. Add a rubber-stamped design with solvent ink or affix a paper flower, button or cluster of rhinestones with fabric glue. Leave one inch on the right end of the twill tape blank.

Tips & Warnings

• Choose twill tape that's 1/2 to 3/4 inches wide if you plan to add one line of text or twill tape that's 1 to 1 1/2 inches wide if you want to add two lines of text.

• Use soft embellishments like fabric flowers if you want to add dimensional accents to labels that you plan to use as handmade garment tags. Other accents like paper flowers or rhinestones may scratch the skin of the person wearing the clothing.

• If you plan to use the labels to mark containers in a baby or toddler's room, don't embellish the fabric labels with small objects such as buttons or rhinestones that can fall off of the labels and become a choking hazard. Stick to flat embellishments like rubber-stamped images instead.

References

• Scrap Friends: Stamping on Ribbon or Twill
• Quality Logo Products: Twill Tape Definition

Resources

• Fabric Label Ideas
• Twill Tape
• StazOn Ink