Tutorial :: Easy Fabric Labels in Word

Because a few of you asked about my labels, and how I created them I thought I could dedicate a small post to that question.  For the labels in the last few posts I used Illustrator to create the design, and Photoshop to resize, duplicate and arrange it.  I then printed on EQ Pintables Inkjet Fabric Paper.  You can find this at Joann’s or on Amazon, for a start. 

Now I know a lot of you probably don’t use these programs or might not feel confident enough in them to create something like this.  But really, if you do have the programs, this was a SUPER simple design.  The hardest part was the little orange petals at the top.  I recommend playing around in Illustrator (if you have it) and doing a few tutorials you can find online for free.  I’m self taught and still learning.

For those of you that don’t have these programs, but still want to create your own labels, you can do so in a word processor program, such as Microsoft Word.  Here is something I created using Word.

And now you can make your own!  I’ll show you how.  It’s pretty easy.  I really want you to try it on your own, but for those that just want instant gratification, scroll to the end and you’ll find a link to download the Word template. 

Directions

1. Create a new Word document.  Set all your margins to 1/4” (File > Page Setup).  Click OK.  Click Ignore when it pops up telling you your margins are set outside the printable area of the page.  **You shouldn't have any trouble printing this fully, but if you do you might need to adjust your labels later.**

2.  Table > Insert > Table…  Set your columns to 4 and rows to 5.  Click OK.

  
3.  Move your mouse over the table and you’ll see the four-way directional arrow (circled in red in the top left corner of the image).  Click on this to highlight your whole table.  Right-click within the table for the menu and choose Table Properties… Within the Table Properties menu, under the Table tab, choose Center.  Do not click OK yet.

4.  In the Row tab check the Specify height box and put in 2”.  Choose Exactly for Row height is.  In the Column tab check Preferred width to 2” and make sure it’s measured in inches.  Click OK.

5. Next we need to insert our clipart.  Insert > Picture > Clip Art…

6.  Choose your Clip Art from the menu that shows up on the right side of your screen.  Just clicking on the image should insert it into your document.  Once inserted, click in that block and center it.  Resize if you need to.  You might want to add a hard return before and after it.  To do this you will need to hold down Shift + Enter together.  Add your text now, too.

7.  Now that you have your label you need to add it to the rest of the cells.  Highlight (i.e. select) everything in the cell.  Right-click over your highlighted info and click Copy.  Then proceed to paste into your other cells by right clicking in each cell and choosing Paste (below Copy) or just move (click) into each cell and press Ctrl + V on your keyboard!

8.  Lastly, you will probably not want to have those black lines surrounding each cell print.  You can either choose to have them go away completely or change them to a very light grey so as to have lines for cutting later.  Start off by clicking the four-way directional arrow at the top left corner of the table (as in step 3) to select the whole table.  Then right-click in highlighted area and choose Borders and Shading…  If you want no borders, choose None and OK.  If you want a light grey border, first make sure that All is selected along the side, then click on the drop down color menu and pick a shade of grey.  Then click OK. 

That’s it!  You’re done!  Go print your labels!  And for those of you that would rather just download and change the info, here you go.  You’ll just need to do the copy and paste part once you have your info entered in (see step 7). 

Don’t be afraid to experiment with this technique.  You can also create labels for your quilts, just make your table 2 columns by 4 rows for a bigger cell.  Let me know if you are having issues viewing the document once downloaded.  Also let me know if there are “bandwidth” issues.