I always sign my quilts – I write my name on the quilt then embroider over it – and add the date, but there’s always the challenge of easily documenting more than that. For years, I kept a little book, a Quilt Diary or journal, which had a place for a picture of each quilt then some details about it. Naturally, the book is not with any specific quilt (and I’m not entirely sure where it is now.) So I was excited to find these panels at my LQS.

This is one panel of the labels, which are part of the Sewing is My Happy Place line by Nina Djuric. Here are the fabrics in that line on the Northcott website. Each label is about 5.5″ by 5.75″ after washing (because the fabric shrank more in the lengthwise dimension, of course). I’m trimming them so that there’s half an inch all around, then turning down 1/4″ and stitching around the perimeter on the machine. I’ll sew them onto the backs of my quilt by hand once I’ve added the information to each one.

I also did a little test, writing on the selvedge with a black Sharpie marker before washing the fabric. That held perfectly, so I’ll use the Sharpie for my documenting. I need to find that old quilt diary to copy any details from there.

btw, the link on the Northcott page for the free tote bag pattern isn’t right. (It takes you to ALL of the patterns available there.) You can download that bag pattern right here. It’s hard to see in the thumbnail but the tote has pleated outer pockets. I’m going to try one and use those panels with the black background on it somewhere. 🙂

How do you record the details for your quilts?