I've only done a few quilts and I'm having one heck of a time with the labels. I print them out on my inkjet printer and no matter what I do, they get washed out on the first washing. One of the tutes said to iron the ink in and it would last forever. I guess 'forever' means as long as it takes to get to the washing machine.
I printed the last one on muslin and nothing changed. Can I use retayne on these things? Is there a better way to make labels ??

I am surprised that the ironing did not do the trick. I usually embroider the information on the back material of the quilt before assembling it to the top. This way it will not wash out nor can it be removed. Helps if someone wants to steal your quilt and claim it as their own. LOL

I just bought some Bubble Jet Set, which is used to pre-treat the fabric before you iron it to freezer paper and put it through the printer. After it's printed, you post-treat the fabric in something like Retayne...and hopefully this really does set the inks.

However, I haven't done it yet.

I got the stuff online from
http://www.cjenkinscompany.com/

My first thought was. Did you use the pre-treated fabrics or just reg fabric in the printer? The pre-treated shouldn't have washed out at all. Now if reg. fabric, then it needs to be treated before putting in printer.

I would imagine you are going to have to pretreat your fabrics. I have a package of those ink jet labels in my sewing room - the package says handwash only no detergent(?) how on earth do you do that? It also says no machine washing - so obviously they know the ink is not going to stay put. So those labels are great as long as you don't plan on using or washing your quilt. I will stick with embroidered labels, myself.

I got some of the same label sheets (not so cheap, either) and couldn't believe it when it basically warned against washing your quilt. Huh?

you have to pre-wash the fabric before running it through the printer, any oils (from handling) sizing,or chemicals will stop the ink from (soaking into the fibers) when i print anything out with my printer i make sure i am using PFD fabrics (prepared for dyeing) after i run it through i set it aside to *cure* for 24 hours then i heat set it...and set it aside again...i do this for a week. then i take it to the sink and run cold water through it. it also makes a difference your ink...if you use fill kits or buy the (recycled) ink cartridges they do not work very well. it is best to purchase the expensive inks, the ones that studies show work the best are the HP inks and the EPSON inks. and laser printers will not work.has to be an inkjet.
as far as the retayne goes...can't hurt.

When I printed some photos for an I spy quilt some of them washed out. I don't know which brand it was because I used several. I ollowed directions on all of them but something was missing. So I plan to test next time