Signing quilts

[SuesQuilts]

I have made quilts but never sign them. I would like to know what is the proper way to do this. Do you just sign them with a fabric pen or do you make labels and sew them on to the back? Or is either way ok?

[kho]

I make labels. I put a For: Made by: my state and the year and also the name of the quilt. I hope this helps.

[knitnoid]

Who's to say what is "proper".

I've got some quilts I simply flipped over and signed with a pigma pen. I've printed labels on printable fabric, I've printed labels on t-shirt transfers. I've used my sewing machine to letter on the binding. I've also used the machine to stitch on the front of the quilt.

Some of the labels I've made have been carefully appliqued to the back of the quilt -- others stitched down to the backing before quilting.

There is even a book called One-of-a-Kind Quilt Labels by Thea Nerud.

Thimbleberries used to have a quilt panel of labels.

Bottom line, do what YOU think is best.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/knitnoid/s ... 492707782/

[cindyg]

I read a magazine article about this. There are many quilts out there that historians are trying to figure out. They ask that if you make a quilt you put a label on it with the following info.:

Name of the quilt
Made for (recipient)
By (maker)
Place (City & State)
Date


There are no quilt police so however you can get this info onto the quilt is OK. I put labels on my quilts. I have made labels several different ways using Pigma pens or by machine embroidering on the label.

[FarmChick]

Usually I make a label. If it is a small piece and the backing is light enough that a pen will show, I write everything in a corner of the backing then heat set it with the iron. Depends, too, how much time I have before I give it away. Writing on the quilt is quicker than hand sewing a label.

My mom has also had me design a block for the front of the quilt with all of the info on it and a small design. It depends on the project if that will work or not.

[purrfect-lady]

I also make labels for my quilts. I use aida cloth and cross-stitch generally, often adding a tiny cross-stitched motif that suits the quilt or the recipient. But hand or machine embroidery is also a good option or even the pigma pen and hand-writing them. A sample of your own penmanship is also a special gift. Don't underestimate the value of that.

You can buy labels and fill them in yourself (check the notions walls) and my SIL has a book of label patterns that you can iron onto muslin and then fill in as you wish, coloring with fabric crayons, writing with pigma pens, or embroidering, etc.

For my special family quilt, I paperpieced letters and put around the borders on the back all the pertinent information. Now THAT was tedious! But rather striking.

But no matter what you do - please ALWAYS mark your beautiful creations.

[Thywillbedone]

I label all my quilts with the name of the quilt, the recipient, (some times a small note, if its for a baptism or birth) my name, my town and the date. I make a label out of muslin, embroider a design with the main color of the quilt around the edge of the label and then hand write the information on it with Pigma pen. Usually it is around 3x4

[Joannequilts]

I put the information that cindyg noted in her post. Most of the time, I make a label and hand sew it to the back of the quilt..I have also done what purrfect-lady does, with the cross stitching..it takes some time, but is beautiful! Then, for kids quilts that may not make it to be "passed down", I simply write on the back with Pigma pen and heat set it.
To me, it is really important to label a quilt..how you do it is a personal preference!

Joanne

[sadiedaisy1]

Most of the labels I have done are fully embroidered using my embroidery machine. One time I embroidered just the label's outside edges and then wrote the personal information with a fabric pen in the middle of the label. That turned out nice too.

[knitnoid]

I just made this label for my mom's quilt. I used printable fabric and printed it, then took a piece of the border print and sewed it to the edge of the label. I bound two edges and then machine stitched the other two edges into the binding. The other two edges are hand stitched down.