DIY Faux Suede Tags for Handmade Items

Do It Yourself Chicago Style Labels for your Handmade Items

Did you know you can use Print and Transfer Paper with Cricut Faux Suede to create your own Chicago Style or Sewn on Labels? If you are knitting or crocheting anything these days you will see that almost always there is a little leather tag attached to handmade items. If you are wanting to make some that look super awesome and are a bit budget friendly, then you have found the right blog post for that project.

I have an updated version for making DIY Faux Suede Tags that are very similar to this please check out that post here!

I used Cricut Faux Suede for this project and it works really well with Iron-on Transfer Material. But there are so many ways to use this Faux Suede to make DIY Tags. I left a few blank and signed the tags to make Signature Tags, I think this is a pretty awesome way to sign handmade items such as this.

Today I will show you how to make your own Yarn Heart Fold Over Chicago Style Labels.

Supplies:

• Knit Item such as a Nesting Bowl Set or Crochet Plant Holder
• Printable Iron-On Transfer Paper
• DIY Yarn Heart Labels
• Scissors or Rotary Cutter
• Chicago Style Screws
• Cricut Easy Press or Iron
• Parchment Paper
• Cricut Faux Suede

Optional Supplies:

• Leather Punch

The method that I use for applying the transfer paper may not work with all types of transfer sheets. Please read the instructions on the package of your transfer material to see if you can peel the paper when it is still hot. I find my transfer material on Amazon, though Walmart has 2 different kinds that work well too, I like that you can peel when hot on both brands, it is a short time for doing the heat transfer and it has a somewhat soft touch. I have linked to the one on Amazon as that is the preferred transfer material that I use.

The first step is to print your labels onto the transfer paper. Read the instructions on the package before printing. Have a space available and set up with a hard surface for you to use your Easy Press or Iron, I have a Cricut Mat that I use and it works perfect for this type of project.

If you are using a Cricut Easy Press set your machine to 300 degrees and 30 seconds.

Once you have the transfer paper printed, I like to cut into strips, I leave the excess white on either side of the print. I also like to peel the paper backing from the transfer material, though this is not a necessary step. If you want to peel the paper backing, make a small tear on one side of the strip and peel the paper backing off just a little, then place transfer side down onto your pressing surface. Then hold with one hand and gently peel away with the other.

Place parchment paper over the paper so that it covers the surface of the transfer paper and the fabric.

Place Easy Press or iron down with firm pressure, hit the Cricut button if using the Easy Press and wait for the timer to go off.

Wait 3-5 seconds and then peel away the paper backing. I like to gently pat down the surface while it is cooling, I think it helps eliminate stickiness.

Cut out your tags into strips along the dashed line, and cut out holes. I purchased a leather hole punch which works pretty good on these, it works best if you fold the tag and punch with 2 layers.

I rounded the corners on mine with the scissors, which I think gives the final tag a much more professional and not so much of a DIY tag look.

The Cricut Faux Suede Pack comes with more than one color sheet, 2 shades of brown, black, red and a light tan. I made my tags in the same color scheme as these so that I could use all of the sheets except for the black, as the ink won’t show up on that one. If you want to try these out using my Yarn Heart Tags you can find the printable in my Etsy Shop

Wrap on your handmade item and attach with Chicago Style Screw.

These tags look so good for a DIY version. If you are wanting to get tags of your own and want to  purchase Faux Suede Tags you can find a number of different suppliers on Etsy. But if you are needing some tags quickly, want a little bit of variety or just a small amount of tags and want to try the DIY route, these are definitely a good alternative. The only thing that is sort of a bummer about these tags is that you do loose the soft feel of the faux suede by ironing on the transfer material. Other than that they are pretty rad for a DIY tag.

If you used 4 of the five sheets you will end up with roughly 128 tags or so. The Chicago Style Screws that I found came in a pack of 90, so to make 90 complete tags you could spend just about $40, even less if you get any of the supplies using a Michaels coupon or while Cricut items are on sale.

Another Fun Way to use this Faux Suede is as a Signature Tag

Cut suede into strips and hole punch, sign the tag either like I have above or lengthwise as shown below. I used an ultra fine point Sharpie pen and it worked great on the faux suede. This is a great way to add your signature to your handmade items!

You can also try the iron on method on other fabrics, such as canvas, duck cloth, flannel and cotton fabric. I really like the way these labels look printed on flannel shown in Gray below and in White, the tag ends up being very soft and would be great as a patch or tag for baby items that you sew on.

If you want to try out a sheet of the above style tag for knit beanies, here is a free PDF download for handmade knit beanies.

PDF Download for Knit Beanie Tags for Dark Colored Fabric Transfers

PDF Download for Knit Beanie Tags for Light Colored Fabric Transfers

This FREE printable will not work with the Chicago Style Screws. If you want the Yarn Heart Printable you will need to visit my Etsy Shop

DIY Faux Suede Label Tag Listing on Etsy

I must say that I do have some custom tags that I got online and I absolutely love them. They did take a while to arrive, 19 days to be exact and they came from the US. I was hoping it would take about a week which was what was suggested on their site. I am very happy with the quality of the tags that I have and will be using them for my Beanies and Ear Warmers that I sell at market. I had made these DIY tags thinking I would only use them as photo props while I waited for my custom ones to arrive and was very surprised as to how nice they came out. I will DEFINITELY use these on my mason jar and mug cozies, as well as on nesting bowls and crochet pots that I make. These are actually pretty perfect for different handmade home items.

If you give these DIY tags a try please share with me on instagram, I really love seeing pictures of items made using ideas from my blog. Share @savlabot or use my hastag #savlabot

You do not need an Easy Press for this project, but I didn’t not try this with an iron and the final results may vary slightly.