Thursday, September 26, 2013

How to Make an Embroidered Signature Label

I've made two jelly roll quilts that will be part of the pile of Christmas presents our granddaughters will have under our tree. I wanted to personalize them to make them more special.  The girls are only 5 & 8 so I don't think they will appreciate (yet) the time & love that went into their quilts but they can read my sentiment every night and know that their Nana loves them!


To make my sentiment I found a font on Word that I liked (Lucida Caligraphy) and sized it to fit the design.  If you don't like any of the basic fonts there are plenty of sites on the web that have free downloadable fonts.  I was too lazy to do that. If you have nice handwriting you can do your own.  That would probably be more special but 30 years of signing tax returns has reduced my once nice handwriting to more of a scribble!

I printed my words on a plain piece of paper and taped to a window (no fancy equipment here, trust me this works!) The light coming through the window makes a great tracing medium. 
Then place your fabric over the printout.  I used painters tape as it doesn't leave a real sticky residue.  I used a washable marker to trace the sentiment. The markers can be found in the sewing section of any hobby store. I used a simple back stitch to embroider, using two strands of floss.  When done I rinsed the fabric out and the marker was gone.  Do not iron until you have rinsed your fabric, ironing will set the marker.  No need to ask how I know this.

Now is when I got really technical.  To make the heart shape I used one of my cookie cutters. Creative gadgets are everywhere!

I used a fusible web, that is made especially for appliquing, and ironed the heart onto the quilt top.  Using the blanket stitch on my sewing machine I sewed around the edges.

I'm so happy with how they turned out!  Now it's time to take them to be quilted. I need to get busy and find more fabric as I have one more quilt to get done! So many projects, so little time!

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