What’s In a Name – or a Label?

Last Updated on Sunday, 27 November 2011 05:32 Written by Sandi Levy Sunday, 27 November 2011 04:02

If you work in fiber for any age group or gender, there are regulations on what needs to be affixed to your finished product. This is especially true if your target market is children.

The US Government doesn’t see that stuffed animal, that dress, that blanket/quilt, that hat as ‘art.’ They see it as a manufactured product which must be labeled. Their stance is that the ultimate consumer must know who to contact in the event of a product failure. They also require labeling sufficient for the manufacturer (artist) to identify which of their products may be involved in a recall.

Some of the things that are required on the label are the manufacturer’s name, location and date of manufacture, contents and care instructions.

When I first started out, I thought, “What a COLOSSAL pain!” And, in fact, all these labeling requirements forced many, many people out of business when they took effect. But you may already know how stubborn I can be…..

Labeling has evolved over my time in business; both the process and the mind-set. I’ve worked really hard to market my shop and my brand. I’ve labored to have the name, iKnitQuiltSew, mean quality, durability, style and value. All of a sudden, my label may be the most important element of any piece I produce. How does the buyer care for this item? Who made it? Where can I get more of these? What’s it made of? All of these questions are answered on my label.

My labels started out on off-white blanket binding. It worked, but it was so big and the edges frayed so easily. The latter required a lot of finishing. The whole process was such a chore and I needed to streamline and simplify. I’ve finally gotten it down to professional looking and manageable. So here’s how you can do it too!

You will need an iron and ironing board, scissors, computer/printer/scanner, iron-on transfer paper, photo software, light colored satin ribbon (I use white 5/8″ wide) and a sewing machine or needle & thread. The first thing to do is compose the contents of your label, remembering that there’s a front and a back. The front of my label has my shop name (with the copyright symbol), my zip code (location of manufacture), USA, the month/year of completion, and my shop website address. The back of my label has care instructions and item material content. There’s nothing preventing you from using interesting fonts and colors, but don’t get too carried away – you’re working in a really small space.

If you lay your file out in columns, you should be able to get three or four labels across, and the column structure will make them all the same size. Type the front of the label first, skip one line, then type the back. This will give you ample room for cutting later.

Once you’re happy with your text, print your label(s) on bright white paper (that way the background won’t scan) at a good resolution (I change my printer to the “text with photo” setting). Once it’s printed, scan it to turn it into a .jpg. Open the .jpg with your photo software and flip it horizontally. It needs to be backwards on the transfer paper so that it will print frontward on your label. Then, open a new text document and place the picture in it. Set the margins as narrow as you can to cut down on wasting transfer paper, then resize the image to fit your ribbon. The rulers on the side and top of the screen are a huge help when doing this! When your happy, print this on transfer paper. You should have something that looks like this:

Now cut out each front and back label so that you’re left with lots of little pieces.

Place the labels face down on your ribbon about 1″ from the end. Make sure they’re straight! The transfer paper I use requires a hot iron with no steam. Be sure to follow the directions on your transfer paper for good adhesion. My transfer paper requires heat for 20 seconds, and I’ve never had a problem scorching the ribbon during this step. Here’s what the label looks like after ironing and peeling off the backing.

Once the label has cooled, fold it in half. Turn the cut edges together toward the back twice (this gets the unfinished edge inside), then stitch it in place with a sewing machine or by hand.

Now all that’s left to do is to sew it into your item, making it truly finished!

Lynn Frederickson, Seams Incredible!

Last Updated on Sunday, 20 November 2011 11:52 Written by Start's Arts Sunday, 20 November 2011 11:52

By Beverley Start
Saturday November 19 2011

I would like to introduce you to Lynn Frederickson, a very interesting woman and a wonderful artist. Lynn lives in Orillia Ontario and enjoys many forms of arts and crafts from knitting to gourd-carving.

OK, this next part is amazing! So amazing in fact that people don’t get it and don’t believe it but believe me it is true. Lynn can knit whole sweaters; pairs of socks, anything that has two sides all at once off two straight knitting needles…NO SEAMS! Even more amazing was the book she wrote about it called Seams Incredible. The book has long ago been lost among the discount bookshelves but if you can find it, it’s a true gem! This is super easy to learn and Lynn is anxious to answer any questions that anyone has. I’ve encouraged her to join the forum so that you can have easy access to her brain to pick. If you are a knitter I strongly encourage you to. This will save you time and stitching. It gets better…not only can she make anything with two “ply’s” we’ll call them, she can make as many ply’s as she wants/needs… off two straight needles! Think about this. It’s a wonderful thing.

Lynn, as well as being one hell of a piano player, has been creating art her whole life. Painting, macramé, crocheting, playing music (a variety of instruments), and currently she enjoys carving gourds, beading jewelry, and experimenting with any materials she can get her hands on. In fact I remember her making paint from egg yolk because she read about it somewhere and when I was little I remember sitting under her easel. Oh ya, Lynn is my mom:)

Top 5 Free Knitting Apps

Last Updated on Thursday, 27 January 2011 06:41 Written by Victoria Thursday, 27 January 2011 06:41

1. Knitting Daily

Knitting Daily is a magazine app to help serious knitting fans keep on top of all that’s new in the world of wool-crafts. You’ll find it in the App Store as the most popular free knitting application for iPhone and it has a cute logo with ball of duck egg blue wool with criss-crossed needles.

Basically, this has everything you need for those in-between moments, not enough time to pull out your latest project and work on a few rows, but long enough to check out the three tabs worth of content. The first, latest updates from knitting blogs; the second, video how-tos and tutorials; and the third, an extensive glossary for jogging your memory on those more out of the ordinary techniques. There is also the option to sign up to the Knitting Daily mailing list to receive all this to your inbox, but with it handy on your phone for bus journeys and coffee shop queues, you’ll probably find that this is all you need.

2. Knit Counter Lite/StitchMinder

Counter style apps have been long available in Apple and Android App stores and do the job quite nicely, thank you. However, there are two specific free apps aimed at knitters that you can take a look at and try. Obviously, you’re unlikely to need both, but there are a few handy extras that may swing your attention to one or the other.

Knit Counter Lite is the most popular in terms of number of downloads and although it looks quite simple, it does its job very well. Inside the app, you can create numerous personalised and custom counters to suit your projects, each with specific information that you can keep handy for reference, such as which yarn and needles you’re using. You have the option to link two counters together and the ‘frog’ button help you to get back to where you want to be if you find yourself having to go back to correct an error.

StitchMinder may have a more elaborate design scheme, but actually appears to do less than its competitor, with only four counters available for customisation. Nonetheless, you can still keep a good track of your projects using this app and the user ratings are very positive.

3. Lion Brand Yarn

The Lion Brand Yarn app allows you to search specific criteria to find the right pattern for your project. Once you find the right pattern you can bookmark it, make notes and even use the handy map to see your nearest Lion Brand stockist to get what you need.

4. KnitMinder Lite

My personal favourite app on the list and one that I’ve found myself using at home, KnitMinder Lite allows knitting hoarders like me to audit and organise all of their equipment, patterns and ‘part-way through until I got frustrated and threw it under the bed/on top of the wardrobe’ projects.

Inside the app are four tabs: projects (subdivided into planned, in-progress, finished and on-hold categories), patterns, yarn (arranged by weight, colour or brand) and needles (types and size). This app really helps you to see which projects you can manage with the equipment you’ve got, when you could do with stocking up and when you need to stop starting new projects and finish what you’ve started!

5. Knitted Cam Lite

This is just a fun little app for anyone who enjoys crafts. You’ll find it with the cool retro camera on the logo and once you’ve downloaded it you can have lots of fun turning your photos into images worthy of a Christmas jumper! Just tap the bottom-right corner of the screen when you open the app and choose a picture from your albums, take one or go for a demo shot. Then, the app will manage to transform the image into a knitted swatch while you can tamper with the colour ways to make it look perfect. It’s sometimes a bit hit-and-miss, and pictures that are too light or dark can be tricky to perfect, but this app definitely survived the delete-list just for kitsch value!

About the Author: Victoria Crowdell writes articles on family, home & garden and crafting – her passion is decorative candles.