Sewing name labels in?

[QTPie]

Can anyone give me tips about where to sew them?

Do you sew them onto the labels or straight onto the material (trousers, polo shirts?). What about jumpers and socks - where do you sew them on them (DS has weekly swimming lessons from Reception onwards, so socks should be named?). Goodness, do you name their underpants (because of swimming)?!

Sorry for the silly questions - haven't done this before and when I was at school (a thousand years ago!) we didn't have school uniform (so things weren't named).

Thanks
QT

[SomeSunnySunday]

I sew them straight onto the material, usually at the back of the collar / trousers / shorts waistband (with the exception of DS's summer school shorts which have an elasticated waistband at the back, so I sew the label on to the non-elasticated portion of the waistband, nearer the front). It's generally best to go for the place on the inside of the garment where the label will be most obvious.

Yes to labelling pants - we have a set of 6 "school" pants (they are just out of a pack from John Lewis, but are different to his other pants so I know immediately which ones are labelled). If you're organised enough you could just label one pair to be worn on swimming day (but I know that this would confuse me).

Long socks / rugby socks are labelled under the turned down portion at the top. Ankle socks are labelled (thanks to advice on here) by making a loop over the top of the sock (so half of the label is visible from the outside, but they'll be under trousers). With the exception of 2 pairs for gym day (where the whole sock will be visible as worn with shorts) which I have labelled along the sole.

Towels are labelled at the side to make a loop. I also sew a label in a loop onto goggles, i.e. around the strap.

HTH. There are lots of ways to do this (and I am sure you'll get loads of responses telling you to just use iron-on labels!).

[nonicknameseemsavailable]

I sew mine on. socks we have tried various places, depends on your child and how sensitive they are to it as they can irritate if sewn round the top elastic but for a boy I suppose you could sew them on the outside of the top? just remember to stretch the elastic out when you do it.
shirts/pe shirts/trousers/skirts/pinafores I usually put them on the label, I tried stitching on the inside collar but it was stiff so abandoned that idea and went for the label on the side instead. IME label everything that goes into school!!!

not got swimming here so no need to label pants.

[ErrolTheDragon]

Surely no-one will tell you to use iron-on labels... when the real solution is a permanent marker pen. Write on the wash label - or for socks, they now put a white strip on the inside of the 'cuff' on dark school socks specifically for this purpose. About the only thing I find needs a sew-on label nowadays are dark sports socks. (make a loop and sew the short ends together under the turnover to minimise the amount of sewing effect on the stretch.)

[QTPie]

Ah thanks very much, all of you.

Did "iron on" labels this past year (preschool) and had to keep replacing them - so thought that I would give see on a try.

DS's official uniform is shorts instead of trousers (but I believe they relent in the coldest months...): so will need to hide the labels

Swim cap? I guess permanent marker?

Will do pants too - good idea about "separate" school pants.

Brilliant ideas, thank you :)

[teacherwith2kids]

For socks, I fold the label over into a ring first and sew ends together (raw ends of labels folded in first, so you are sewing through 2 folds IYSWIM) then attach the ring with a short single line of stitching down 1 line of rib. Fold-over socks - football etc - I do on the outside at the top so the label is inside the fold, others have to be on the inside but tjhe small ring is ess scratchy than a full label.

Valuable items, like coats, I label on the inside of the back (obvious), permanent marker pen on the label (second line of defence but can still be cut out) AND sew a looped nametape as above inside a sleeve. A very, very large majority of clothes losses are simple misplacements, but one or two are not, and having a 'if t is my child's, it has a label sewn into the arm' can come in handy...

[Mutteroo]

My DS boarded and his matron told us it wasn't unheard of for pupils to take other people's PE kit (particularly track suits?) & remove the labels to claim them for their own. Yes thieving happens everywhere. I brought some brightly coloured cotton & put a little cross in a seam of the clothing. Also wrote DS's surname in very large letters all over the lining of his track suit. Bit of a faff, but worth it when we managed to get back a pair of trackie bottoms which had been nabbed by another dishonest young man. A tip if there's only your children with their surname in the school; cut the name labels down, particularly with socks, & stitch this in instead. Or stitch in your child's initials inside the sock with that brightly coloured cotton. If I stitched in a label, I would position it downward near the top of the sock.

I'm now very glad I don't have to do labels anymore, but its worth it if you want your children's clothes to remain your children's clothes!