In todays DIY video I'm going to be showing you how you can make your own custom branded
labels to go inside blank tshirts like this one here.
I've got a little t-shirt company called Liner Note Kids that I started when I was in university
and I make t-shirts and sell them on a print-to-order basis so I only make a t-shirt when I get
an order come in.
That means I don't have to invest a lot of money in a lot of stock and keep a lot of
merchandise in my flat but because of that it's really hard to get your t-shirts custom
branded.
Companies just don't do that on a one-off basis.
So I've figured out a DIY way to do it myself using a piece of ribbon and some transfer
paper, and I'm going to show you how to do that.
The first step is obviously to design your label.
I did this in Adobe Illustrator just because that's what I'm comfortable with but you can
use whatever software you prefer.
I measured the width of the ribbon i was going to use and laid out a box that was that size,
and then I included my logo, the size of the t-shirt, and on the back I had a little line
about the company and a URL.
With clothing labels there are varying laws depending on what country you're in about
what information HAS to go on it.
Like you have to include washing instructions, the makeup of the fabric and the country of
origin, and I didn't want to mess with any of that and that would just involve printing
too fine a detail onto my transfer paper so instead I decided just to leave the original
label in for that and cover up the brand label from the blank t-shirt.
because we're going to print this on transfer paper you have to make sure your design is
reversed before you print it.
I know that's confusing but it will end up the right way once you have heat pressed it
onto the fabric so just go with me here.
So i just fit as many of my designs as possible onto an A4 sheet and then printed that with
inkjet transfer paper.
My lovely friend Lucia let me borrow her printer for this so thank you Lu if you're watching.
You'll end up with sheets with lots of little labels on them so what you want to do next
is cut them out.
I didn't want they grey borders to be included on my actual label so I used them as a guide
to cut out the piece from the middle.
This is the ribbon I'm going to use for my labels.
it's got a herringbone pattern on it and it seems to be quite good quality.
i got it from Amazon but I'll leave a link to it down below so you can check it out as
well.
So i cut this into a few six and a half centimetre pieces to make my labels.
Place each side of your label design face down onto the ribbon, leaving a little gap
in the middle so that you're going to be able to fold it in half easily.
Then follow the instructions on your transfer paper some need more heat, some need to be
pressed for longer and this transfer paper that I used required more pressure than heat
so I was pressing down hard with the iron, and I put a cloth in between just so that
my iron wasn't accidentally lifting up and moving the little pieces of transfer paper
as I was pressing.
Then you can peel of the backing of the transfer paper while it's still warm and it should
come away nice and cleanly.
Then fold the ribbon in half and press down on it to crease the ribbon so it will stay
in the label shape.
Trim the end of the ribbon to get it even and then very carefully run a lighter over
it just to seal the edges and stop it fraying.
to stick the label onto the t-shirt I'm going to be using hemming tape.
This stuff holds fabric together by heating it, I think it's some sort of gluey stuff
inside I don't know, all I know is it works.
So i cut that to size, one side for the back and the front of the label and then what i'm
gonna do is stick the label over top of the brand label that's already in the t-shirt.
place the label just under the seam so that there's a nice neat finish and then follow
the instructions on the hemming tape.
Mine says to put a damp cloth on top and then press down with an iron until the cloth has
dried a bit and that means the hemming tape will work.
So there you have your label in your t-shirt.
It's machine washable and because we tucked it underneath the seam it means that it's
not gonna be itchy or annoying sitting in the back there.
I think these labels add a really professional finishing touch to my t-shirts and I'm really
excited about them.
If you want to check out the t-shirts in my store then you can do that, there will be
a link down below, they're all designs that are like inspired by music soif that's your
thing, you might like them.
If you're interested in starting up your own t-shirt company then i do have a playlist
that will probably really come in handy for you it's full of videos about screen-printing
and setting up an online store and talking about how I started my little business so
that will be linked down below in the description box.
i would love it if you gave this video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it and subscribed to my
channel if you'd like to hear more from me and I will see you next time.
bye!