I was curious how a label would look if stitched the old fashion way, with a cross stitch, so I gave it a try.

I love the result with contrasting thread and although the process is time consuming it looks wonderful.

I’ve seen this way of stitching the label referenced in two books: First in How to Make hats by Ruby Carnahan, and then in How to make hats; a method of self-instruction by Rosalind Weiss.

But although I have searched the web, I have not found any picture of a vintage hat label sewn this way. If you have one let me know, I would love to see it.

How do you sew your label on?

Update July 20 2009:

 Since I wrote this post I have come across this picture of a J. Suzanne Talbot (Paris) label at the Rijksmuseum website. The label is sewn in place with tiny stitches. What I find amazing is that the gros grain is sewn with such huge visible stitches…