Thursday 27 March 2014

Preparing for a craft fair part 4: custom labels

I wrote about the importance of building your brand in part 3 of this series, and today I will explore further another inexpensive way of personalising your items: using custom labels. 

I think offering a fairly diverse range of items at your first craft fair, while keeping the overall "feel" and "style" of your products the same, is the best strategy. This way, you can test what sells best for future and bigger events. I plan to expand Pink Robot's range to include lined baby skirts in fabulous, unusual fabrics- like these two Japanese cotton designs. 
Origami crane and blossoms
Japanese fans
Crafted Home, a Glasgow-based Etsy shop, sent me some personalised fabric labels to try out. The skinny labels (12.5mm) in particular tie in perfectly with Pink Robot's handmade vibe, and the textured white cotton tape feels thick and expensive. At £5 for 30 labels, though, they are most definitely affordable.. only around 17p a label!
A little selection of Crafted Home labels
I put these labels to the test when I made a reversible skirt from my Japanese fabrics. The labels are pretty versatile, and can be sewn on in lots of different ways, depending on the item you are personalising. I hand-sewed mine on, making the label a visable feature, but on something like a dress or purse, I would machine sew it flat. 

The fabric label was super easy to sew on, and there was plenty of room at either side of the text for stitching. 
I made the label a feature of the skirt
Giving my skirt a more professional, designer feel
Easy to sew!


I also make baby tutus from soft and fluffy tulle. I decided to add branding to two I made for Heather a while ago, and experiment with the placement of the labels for this review. As a tutu has nowhere "out-of-sight" to place a label, I embraced it as part of the bespoke design. It looks great, and my plan is for people to see the brand name when Heather wears them... a mini walking advert! With that in mind, I sewed a label on to the vest from my peacock collection, to experiment further with position. I placed this one right at the bottom, and it gives the vest a unique look. 
The stitching is hidden in the tulle
Pink Robot branded ballet tutu!
Vest label
I was hugely impressed with Crafted Home's personalised labels, and once I have made all my lined baby skirts to add to Pink Robot's collection, I will definitely be placing an order! For such little expense, I think adding finishing touches like this could add to the value of your items. 

To keep up to date with the rest of this series, and for other thrifty, creative tips, follow Make Thrift Love Life on Bloglovin': http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/11924471

7 comments:

  1. They look lovely, as you said they just add that finishing touch :-) x #ThriftyThursday

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  2. Thanks Kirsty, I think so too! x #ThriftyThursday

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  3. They are the perfect finishing touch and are really budget friendly. Great idea! #ThriftyThursday

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  4. They look really good, as Kirsty and Louisa said they finish of the items lovely. Thanks for linking up with #ThriftyThursday

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  5. Interesting to see the price per label. Thought about printing my own, but with time added, its probably not much of a saving. I like the label on show. People are less likely to remove due to it scratching skin. #ThriftyThursday

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  6. I actually really like the way the label on show looks- when she's wearing it, it's noticeable and looks like a designer skirt. People notice the brand and will hopefully be interested! x

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  7. I like the idea of labels on the outside, to add a professional designer touch to lovingly handcrafted items:)

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