Please Label and Date your quilts

[Simply Quilting]

I would like to greatly encourage you to label your quilts with your name and date. My mom currently has 10+ quilts that were made by family members. Thankfully, she knows who made them but we don't have dates on them. And she has not written down who made the quilts which I am hoping to do soon. I have taken photographs of most of them. I have a couple of quilts that were made by "great grandmas" but don't ask me who made them or when because no one in the family has any idea.

And while I am at, can ask you please do the same with photographs. There is a wonderful album of my family's pictures from the 1800s but no idea who they are. My grandma knew who everyone was in the pictures but no one wrote down the information before she died. So sad that all that family history is lost because no one took the time to write down the information.

On the plus side, one of my grandmas signed and dated the quilt she gave to Dad so we will always have her signature.

[toggpine]

Re: Please Label and Date your quilts

I agree with you on that.

A year ago we got together after my grandfather passed. We all brought photos to share. We sat around the dining table and tried to figure out who was who, and when and where the photos were taken. We did our best, but some are lost.

Sometimes it feels odd to label the quilt, or at least for me it has. It almost feels like bragging. "I did this!"
Then I stop and think of the few I have here. I know who they were from and how much they mean to me. No one else would know that tattered old blue thing is my favorite, and great grandma gave it to me, and she picked the fabric special because I liked kitties. I'd love to have a note on the binding, like my grandmother put on my daughter's quilt.
So, I put on that label so someone, someday will know who made that tattered, well-loved thing and for whom.

[TRLSRL72]

Re: Please Label and Date your quilts

I think this is a very good suggestion. I will have to order some labels.

[toggpine]

Re: Please Label and Date your quilts

Tracy - I just use some muslin and a micron pigma pen to write on the fabric.
I if I have some fabric left over and want to get fancy, I'll make a border around the muslin for the label. I have also used rubber stamps to jazz things up.
You could use an extra block for the label too.

[bkthomas]

Re: Please Label and Date your quilts

Personalize Your Quilt Using Quilt / Applique Labels - YouTube Even Jenny agrees!

[ldnanny3]

Re: Please Label and Date your quilts

I so agree with you on putting labels on quilts , I to have some that were made by grandmothers but not sure which grandmother. I do genealogy also and know all about pictures of family members without names on them, after my mother passed away in going thru her photos of the family I realized she had wrote on the back of every one of them sadly not the same for my dad's side of the family.

[pcbatiks]

Re: Please Label and Date your quilts

Here is a link to Jenny telling a story about the importance of labeling your quilts. The 2nd link is from a blog showing several ideas for making quilt labels. You can also print photos onto printable fabric sheets and use that as part of your label.

Personalize Your Quilt Using Quilt / Applique Labels - YouTube

How to label a quilt: 7 ideas from popular authors

[buckeyequilter]

Re: Please Label and Date your quilts

I always sign the back of my quilt with my name and date made. Sometimes I put the recipient on it also. I just think signing it is a more personal touch than a computer printed label, when I first started quilting I put labels on them. I'm going to have to see if I can find a white or silver micron pen for dark backings.

[Alpha O]

Re: Please Label and Date your quilts

No, thanks. Once I've given something away, I don't care what the recipient does with it. They can claim they made it for all I care. I had the fun of doing it. I don't stick my real name on anything unless required. I really don't care about history or posterity.

[Mpyles]

Re: Please Label and Date your quilts

I try to label mine! There are a few that have gotten away without it in my excitement of finishing it and giving it away! Lol. I put the date, my name the recipient and the pattern maker on them and some a personal message. I don't label it for ownership I label it to let the person I have made it for know how much love went into it!

[ren29]

Re: Please Label and Date your quilts

I agree with labeling quilts for family. Before we were married, my husband's Aunt presented me with a quilt at my bridal shower. I cherish that quilt and love even more how she wrote a little note - the whole story of how the quilt came to be - on fabric then sewed it into the back side of the quilt. DH and I obviously will never forget the history of the quilt but now our children, future generations of our little family will know the love poured into . . . and the 25 years the quilt hung in a closet waiting for DH to get married My quilting adventures have just begun but I hope to be 1/4 the artist Aunt W is.

[bubba]

Re: Please Label and Date your quilts

I did label the one I recently made for my sister, however, I failed to label the ones I made for all the grandkids a year ago. I should do that I guess!!! Wonder if they will part with them while I sew on the labels?

I have an old quilt that looks brand new that my dads mom made for my parents when they got married. I know they married in 1950 or 1951 so it is from that time, and it's all hand sewn, a double wedding ring!

Also, my mother had a baby picture of each of us that hung in the hallway for years. Several years ago, she gave us each our picture, in the frame. For some reason, the sister several of us no longer speak to, took hers out of the frame. There were pictures from my parents wedding in there!!!! I wish I could get a copy, but she won't share with us. I did look in mine with great anticipation, however all that was in there was my kindegarten picture....still exciting, but not as much as the wedding pictures were!

[JCY]

Re: Please Label and Date your quilts

You can make your own labels from those 8.5 x 11 fabric sheets. Just make a Word document & print it out. I usually get 8 labels on a sheet. You can personalize them by stating who the quilt is for, etc. These fabric sheets also can be used to print photos on. These then can be blocks in your quilt. The lady at the quilt show who demo'd them said to press the printed sheets with your iron to set the ink before separating it from the back. Sometimes you have to use a pin to lift the fabric at the corner to pull it off the back. The ones I use are called Inkjet Fabric Sheets, by Jacquard--10 sheets to a pkg. They're available on Amazon. JCY

[auntiemern]

Re: Please Label and Date your quilts

I guess I should put labels on my grand kids quilts, and my sis's that I made for her about 10 yrs ago. I have it right now cuz there is a little tear I need to fix. Gonna post a pic of it tomorrow and put it in my album.

[MayinJerset]

Re: Please Label and Date your quilts

This is a small label I made using a preprinted label and writing info with a thin
Sharpie. Lettering is a little smudged, should have used a permanent pen as they write much sharper lines than Sharpies do..
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