Skill Level: Beginner

Project Summary:

We’ve made it to the final week of the Spring Serenade Quilt Along (QAL)! Over the past five weeks, we've pieced together three stunning quilt blocks, added sashing and borders, and brought our quilts to life. Now, it's time to complete our quilts by basting, quilting, and binding. Whether you’re planning to quilt it yourself or send it to a longarm quilter, this week is all about giving your hard work the perfect finishing touch.

This final week is a bonus tutorial and is all about adding quilt labels to complete your project. Adding a label to your quilt is like an artist signing their masterpiece—it captures a moment in time and preserves the quilt’s story for years to come. Whether it's a name, date, heartfelt message, or care instructions, a quilt label adds a personal touch and ensures its history is never lost. To complete this extra piece, I have utilized my Artspira+ subscription and Brother Skitch PP1 embroidery machine, but there are many ways to customize and add an extra finishing touch.

This is the sixth and final blog post in the six-week Spring Serenade QAL series. If you haven't already, be sure to check out previous weeks' posts that feature tips for completing each week’s tasks or fun bonus projects that build on the skills explored. Even if you’re not following the Spring Serenade pattern, these insights can be applied to future quilt projects.

For More Tips…

If you’re looking for additional advice on how to visualize your quilt blocks before they get stitched up together to make the quilt top, as well as a few tips on basting and quilting, be sure to check out my previous guest blog post on Brother Stitching Sewcial here.

For a comprehensive overview of what the QAL entails—including the schedule, tools, supplies, and more—check out previous Spring Serenade QAL blog posts here. Remember, you’re welcome to join at any time and work at your own pace. If you’d prefer, you can save the posts and follow along at a later date.

All weekly tips, tricks, and resources will be centralized here for easy reference, so don’t forget to bookmark it!

*By signing up for the Spring Serenade QAL updates, you also agree to sign up to be on The Weekend Quilter and Brother International email newsletter list. We will not sell your email or spam you.

Let’s dive in and make your quilts even more special with a personalized label!

I’ll admit I don’t always label my quilts. By the time I finish a project, I’m usually eager to move on to the next one. But this time, I decided to try something different. With the Brother Skitch PP1 embroidery machine and the Artspira app, the process was so effortless—just create the design, transfer it to the app and machine, hit go, and let the machine do the work! This gives me time to move to my next project.

In this tutorial, I’ll walk you through how to create a custom embroidered quilt label using the Brother Skitch PP1 and Artspira. Whether you want to add a simple signature or a meaningful message, this method makes it easy to leave your mark on every quilt you make.

There are endless possibilities for what you can include on a quilt label, such as:

• The name of the recipient(s)
• Your name as the quilt maker
• The quilt’s name
• The date and/or location where it was made
• A special message, quote, or poem
• Care instructions

Below is an example of a quilt label I made for one of my Spring Serenade quilt samples:

Supplies and Tools:

These are the list of supplies and tools you’ll need to make an embroidered quilt label for your Spring Serenade quilt:

• Basic embroidery machine – Brother Skitch PP1 embroidery machine * was featured in this blog post.
• Basic sewing machine – Brother Innov-ís BQ3100, Quilt Club Series sewing machine was featured in this blog post.
• Smartphone or tablet with Artspira app installed
• Active Artspira+ subscription required to follow this tutorial, but as mentioned previously there are many ways to customize and create the design that works for you
• Download PNG file to embroider “Handmade with love” here – The PNG file for this project is designed for a smaller embroidery frame (4in square). It’s recommended to download and unzip the file on a desktop or laptop, then transfer the individual PNG files to your smartphone or tablet and upload them to the Artspira app for use. There is a total of one PNG file.
• Rotary cutter
• Quilting ruler
• Cutting mat
• Iron
• Ironing board
• Fabric pen or pencil
• Fabric scissors
• Coordinating thread(s), 50wt cotton for embroidery, piecing, and hand stitching
• Measuring tape (optional)
• Coordinating quilting cotton approx. 6in x 8in rectangle – ideally a solid fabric to enable the embroidery to be legible.
• Stabilizer, i.e., medium-weight tear-away adhesive stabilizer or lightweight non-woven interfacing, approx. 7in x 9in rectangle
• Pins
• Seam ripper
• Snips
• Squared-up quilt sandwich (not bound) – for the purpose of this example, a smaller squared-up quilt sandwich was used. Typically squared-up quilt would be used. Binding is added at the end to enclose raw edges of the quilt label.
• Needle for hand sewing

*This blog post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something, the author and designer may earn a commission.

Directions:

Read through all the directions before you start.

Step 1: Turn 6in x 8in rectangle quilting cotton around so the wrong side* is facing up. Then, place the stabilizer on top of the quilting cotton centralized and the sticky side of the stabilizer is touching the wrong side of the quilting cotton. Apply heat with iron to set the stabilizer in place.

*Note: I have intentionally used the wrong side of the fabric as the front for this project. Using the wrong side of the fabric creates a contrast between the fabric and the embroidery thread.

Step 2: Fold the stabilized quilting cotton in half horizontally and finger press. Unfold the quilting cotton, fold it halfway vertically, and finger press. These two creases help determine center of the quilting cotton and where to place the embroidery hoop later.

Set stabilized quilting cotton aside for Step 8.

Step 3: Upload a PNG file to a smartphone or tablet with the Artspira app installed and the Artspira+ Subscription Plan activated.

Step 4: Create a new ‘image to embroidery’ by pressing the ‘new’ button on the bottom, middle taskbar. Then, import the PNG file from the device photo library.

Note: Image to Embroidery is a premium function included with an Artspira+ subscription plan.

Step 5: Scroll to the bottom of the app, select ‘Digitizing,’ reduce the ‘number of colors’ from 10 to 1, activate the ‘remove background’ option, and hit ‘Preview.’ Wait for the app to update the image. Then hit ‘done.’

Step 6: Click ‘Create’ at the top right corner of the app. A new screen will appear, and the option to hit ‘save’ will appear at the top right corner.

Step 7: The app will then prompt you to type in the name of the embroidery file. Type in the name of the custom embroidery and hit ‘save.’ Wait for the app to process the action and then hit ‘done’ on the top right corner. Briefly set your device aside.

Step 8: Grab stabilized quilting cotton from Step 2. Rotate it so the rectangle is in a landscape orientation and the right side of the quilting cotton is facing up. Attach the embroidery hoop to the quilting cotton, using the creases created in Step 2 as a guide to help centralize the hoop relative to the quilting cotton. Set the hoop aside.

Step 9: Turn on your embroidery machine. I used the Brother Skitch PP1 embroidery machine for the purposes of this tutorial.

Step 10: Go back to the Artspira app. On the screen, select ‘Layout.’ The app's camera will then appear. Using the four markers around the embroidery hoop as a guide, hold the device parallel to the embroidery frame.

*Please note these instructions require a Brother embroidery machine and the use of the Artspira app

The app will automatically capture a picture of the embroidery hoop. Hit ‘ok’ at the bottom of the app once it has captured the area in which the embroidery will be placed.

Step 11: With your finger, select the digital embroidery and move it so the design is centralized using the creased guides created in Step 2. Hit ‘done’ to confirm placement.

Step 12: Hit ‘transfer’ to transfer the data from the app to the embroidery machine.

Step 13: A new screen on the app will appear outlining the embroidery time, the number of stitches, and the thread required. It will also prompt to press ‘start/stop’ button on the embroidery machine to commence stitching.

Step 14: Sit back and relax while the machine operates on its own.

Step 15: Remove hoop from embroidery machine and cut any loose threads.

Step 16: Using the horizontal central crease created in Step 2 as a guide, measure 1¼in and cut parallel to the crease.

Then repeat on the other side of the horizontal crease. Therefore, the cut strip width measures 2½in.

Step 17: Turn the embroidered rectangle from the previous step so the wrong side of the rectangle is facing up and rotated horizontally. Fold ½in towards the center of the rectangle to enclose the raw edges. The folded rectangle should measure 1½in x 8in. Press folds in place.

Step 18: Take the quilted and squared-up quilt and identify the bottom of the quilt relative to the quilt top design. Then turn the quilt around so the back side is facing up. Pin the embroidered rectangle from the previous step in place as shown in the photo below, leaving overhang on both sides. These will be trimmed at Step 21.

Step 19: Use a coordinating thread and sewing needle, slip stitch long and folded edges of the quilt labels to permanently keep it down.

Step 20: Use a sewing machine to edge stitch shorter edges. Don’t forget to reverse stitch at the start and end of the seam for additional enforcement.

Step 21: Cut the excess overhang of the fabric label.

Step 22: Bind the quilt using a desired method. If you are new to binding or need a refresher on how to bind a quilt, be sure to check out my previous guest blog post on how to machine bind. Trim any loose threads and enjoy!

This wraps up our six-week long, Spring Serenade QAL blog post series. Thank you for joining in on the quilty fun. I hope that you were able to take something away and use it toward a future quilt project.

Adding a personalized embroidered label is the perfect finishing touch for your quilt, turning it into a true keepsake. With the Brother Skitch PP1 embroidery machine and Artspira app, creating a custom label is effortless—allowing you to document your quilt’s story with ease. Whether you’re gifting a quilt or keeping it for yourself, a label adds that extra bit of thoughtfulness and meaning. So why not take a few extra minutes to leave your mark? Your future self (or the lucky recipient) will thank you!

Seeing your work brings us so much joy. Be sure to share your works-in-progress on social media by tagging Wendy @The.WeekendQuilter and @BrotherSews and using the #SpringSereneadeQuilt #BrotherSews hashtags. We’ll be keeping all our weekly tips, tricks, and recommendations at the one location for reference here. So, you may want to bookmark this one.

Thank you again and happy sewing!