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Two wonderful quilters at this message board, Longjohn and SueB, swapped me some fabrics for an I-Spy quilt. Well, it's ready for the quilting and a picture very soon! I have made a label and just wondered, do you put your label on before the quilting or after it's quilted??? - Anngee

You can do it either way, but I usually put mine on after.

That depends...will the quilting be part of the label or will it ruin it by quilting over it....

Another consideration is how it will be quilted. If the quilting will be done by hand, quilting through that extra layer may be difficult. If by machine, it won't matter.

Some people prefer to put the label on before quilting so that the label would be harder to remove if the quilt happened to get stolen.

Those are all good thoughts on when to sew it on. I like the idea of having it quilted into the quilt, but agree that hand quilting would be difficult. I'll be having it done by machine, so will probably put it on before taking it to the longarm quilter. Guess it doesn't really matter, could be done either way. Thanks!

Special quilts that have gone to family members in nursing facilities have had their labels put on before quilting, to secure the label as best as possible. No quilt ever walked off, but I felt better knowing that the labels were really stitched down. I've heard fellow guild members say that it's a good idea for dorm quilts, too.

Otherwise, I put the label on by hand, last thing, or when I'm binding, so I can slip 2 sides under the binding.

Check with your longarm quilter about the placement of the label before quilting. If you want it in the corner, will it still be in the right position when the backing is put on the frame? I don't usually get the label done early enough for me to put it on before quilting, so I try to get it on with the first stitching of the binding so it is machine stitched on two sides, then I only have the last two sides to hand stitch it in place. Not too many would want to remove two layers of machine stitching on the binding to take a label off and then try to match the thread to stitch the binding back down.

Good idea, Quilting Wifey, about the placement of the label. Hadn't really thought about that, but will consider that when I talk to the "longarmer". Great idea to put in a label too if it's going to a dorm or nursing home! Glad I posted, there's much more to think about when deciding on the label than what I thought. - Anngee

quote:

Glad I posted, there's much more to think about

That's what I love about this board! I can ask a question and get lots more useful information than I expected. Besides that, other people learn something too.

Uhhh, stitching it in while stitching the binding? Now why didn't I ever think of that? Talk about old dogs and tricks.........