Create your own fabric labels with Spoonflower!

As a sewer, I've been wanting my own labels for a while, but I am too much of a cheapskate to actually have some real labels printed professionally. I have instead made several attempts to make my own.

First I tried printing directly onto fabric stuck to freezer paper. Did not work. My second attempt was with t-shirt transfer paper. That actually worked quite well, but the labels won't look as nice as you'd probably want them to. Also, t-shirt transfer paper is too expensive for a cheapskate like me. I then read a few places about people using spoonflower.com to create their own labels.

At http://www.spoonflower.com/ you can upload your own design and have it printed on fabric, wrapping paper or wallpaper.Would make sense that you could have your own labels printed that way as well, so I decided to give it a shot.

You'll need to make sure your label design is the size you want it to be, plus a few extra inches of empty space around it. I made mine using photoshop, but any photo editing software should do the trick.

Upload your design to spoonflower, and make sure you choose basic repeat. You can then chose the type of fabric you want and the amount(a fat quarter gave me 150 labels!)

 

 

Your fabric should arrive within a few days if you are in the us, or 1-2 weeks if you are elsewhere.

Once if arrives, prewash your fabric and iron your fabric before cutting.

Cut your fabric, making sure you leave enough space to fold the edges down with an iron.

 Either sew the edges down right away or leave them like they are until you are ready to sew them onto a garment.

Circle Skirts

I have been making my daughter a lot of these skirts lately. They are super easy to make and perfect for the hot weather we have been having.

Blue Summery Dress

It is time to feed my poor neglected blog with a new dress refashion. I got this at my usual stop, the Salvation army(their dresses are way cooler than St. Vincents).

3 Refashions

These are 3 refashions I did before I thought of starting a blog, so there are no in between pictures. You should still get a good idea of what was done though.

I got all of these from Sally's, and none cost more than $4.

I quite liked this one, but it was too big. Didn't make any big changes, just shortened it and took in the sides. If your dress is too big, just turn it inside out and sew down the sides.

This needed a bit more work. I:
*Turned it inside out and cut across the bottom to remove some of the length. 
*Cut off the sleeves and used the bottom parts as the new, shorter sleeves.
*Took in the sides.
*Cut the neckline into a rounder shape and used the loose fabric as binding.

 I turned this top into a girls dress by taking in the sides and taking in about 10 cm at the top, Easy peasy.

Retro Flowers - Refashion

This was an easy one. I loved the print, but it was too big! The solution was easy, a cut enough off the waist and arms and removed some fabric between the bodice and skirt, for a snugger fit.

Another thrift refashion

Got this at Sally's as well. I've pretty much bought every dress they have, which isn't alot really:P It's a small shop in a quiet town.

 I wasn't sure if I would be able to turn this into something wearable, but I think I did it. It is still a little quirky, but not over the top.

Thrift Store Dress Refashion

I got this dress from Salvation Army for $2 NZD. Pretty outdated and too big for be, but I liked the colour.

Healthy Banana ''Ice cream''

Or how to trick your trick your children into thinking they are eating ice cream, when they are actually just having frozen fruit. 

It's true, it's creamy and fresh, and the texture is just like ice cream, but the only ingredient is banana and berries(or anything else you want to add for extra flavour).

Kitchen Trolley Makeover

I love going to garage sales! I never now what I'm gonna find...most of the time it's just crap, but some times I find something good, like this kitchen trolley that I got for $10. Didn't look like much really, but I saw potential there. 

It was a pretty easy makeover, all it needed was two coats of paint and a new wooden top. I used a piece of Kauri that I found in the shed(the previous owners left a lot of nice timber there:)). My husband cut it into the right size and we sanded it until it was smooth. I then added a coat of danish oil to the kauri for a nice finish. 

The handle and knob(for tea towels) is from Mitre 10.

So I made a blog

Hello and welcome to my new blog!:) Actually, my first blog. I have never done this before, so I might fail miserably. This is going to be a DIY/Upcycling/Sewing blog, with a few recipes thrown in. 

So yeah, I'm gonna make the introduction post short and get on with the interesting bits!

Cheers,

Charlotte