Embroidered Labels

Many years ago I asked a friend to digitize a little piece of clip art that I used on my business cards at the time so that I could stitch out labels for my handmade clothing.  My logo was a simple hanger embellished with a flower.  Back when I was doing some dressmaking for hire I used the business name Juliet, Couture and Bridal (JCB being my initials).  The first label I created looked something like this:

This was stitched on ribbon.  I went on to stitch the design out on various fabrics.  This was my favorite,

stitched on a pale grey and white checked linen.  I particularly liked using a patterned background.

Last week I realized I was out of pre-stitched labels and sat down at my machine to make some more.  For some reason, my old design was not speaking to me, and I decided it was time for a makeover of my label.  I still wanted to use a hanger design and found an appropriate one on the internet.  I'm currently loving the floss stitch designs I got from Jolson's Designs so I used one of those.  Once I got the design looking the way I wanted, I started concentrating on color and fabric choices.  I looked at my local fabric store for some light colored checked fabric like the one I used above, but didn't find anything in the color I was looking for.  They did have, however, a subtle paisley print cotton duck which I thought would work well.

I used colors similar to the designs here on my blog.  Here are the labels all stitched out and waiting to be cut.

and here is a completed label.

I particularly like how much depth and interest the print background adds.  I backed the fabric with a fusible tricot interfacing, cut the edges with pinking shears and then applied a thin line of Fray Block around the perimeter. 

While hunting through my closet for examples of my former labels, I was dismayed to discover how few of my garments actually have labels in them.  So, I'm hoping to do better this year and remember to sew labels into my creations.  I am also going to go back and "retro-fit" some of my older clothes with some of my new labels where possible.  After all, what's a designer original without its label?

Comments

[Alexandrea]

I LOVE your new labels! They are gorgeous and I wish I had the software to make labels on my machine. Maybe someday........ :) Thanks for the inspiration.

And btw......I found your blog by searching for reviews on the Fabulous Fit dress form system. I bought one last year but haven't had the time or guts to try it out yet. Your review made me feel more up to the task. Thank you!