Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Stitched Cards { + Tutorial}

If you are my MIL, stop reading right now. Close the URL, and don't read it for another 5 days! :)


This year for Mother's Day I thought I'd do something a little different. I wanted to make cards for both my Mum and my Mother-in-law since I knew I wouldn't get to see either of them on Mother's Day, so I put on my thinking cap and came up with the idea of stitched cards. I mean, fabric designers go to the effort of creating beautiful prints - so why not show-case a little of it in a different kind of way.

Here is how they turned out.


I have to say, getting the tension right on my sewing machine (AND the stitch length) was a little tricky. I ended up winding the machine by hand since the stitch length kept varying with the speed of the machine (I'm sure a walking foot would have come in handy here - but I don't have one).

Now all I need to do is get them in the post!

What are you doing for your Mum this Mother's Day? Leave me a comment and share the creative inspiration - I'd love to hear about it! :)

S xxx

And now, for the Mini Tutorial...

Select your card stock and fabric (the latter of which you will need to iron). I don't know about you, but sometimes I find this the hardest part of the project! The next part is deciding how big you want your card to be. I simply cut an A4 sheet of card stock (in both colours since I was making 2) in half, and then folded the piece I was using in half.


Now to measure how big you want your boarder frame to be. I decided this time to make a boarder 1cm wide, but I think it could look really good if you use a much wider boarder instead (I have also considered just making a shape inside of the boarder frame instead of the typical rectangle... I'll be trying that next time!). Measure it out and cut it. I used a scalpel (craft knife/exacto knife... what ever you want to call it) since it's what I had on hand.


Grab your fabric and measure it ready to cut. If you are making a frame like I did, then you will want the fabric to be 1cm shorter length-ways and width ways (so there is still fabric under the frame).  Whip out your roller cutter (or scissors) and make it to measure.

Now for the sneaky part... I used a glue stick to stick the fabric to the back of the frame - right side of fabric to wrong side of card stock. This just helped keep it in place while I was stitching. Press it on firmly and make sure there are no wrinkles.


Stitch the fabric to the card stock. I chose a contrasting/complimenting thread here. Use whatever inspires you! :) Place your sewing foot so that your needles punctures the card just above the inner line of the frame (mine was level, and I had to fiddle with it at each turn - it was a bit of a pain. Just sayin'.) You should be able to see the very edge of the inner part of the frame through the gap in the foot (Mine is the one I would use for zig zag I think - it had the widest hole). You want to make sure you are catching your fabric and not stitching outside of it. When you are the whole way around, snip threads.



Pull threads through to the back and tie off.


Cover the back of the card stock & fabric with glue (I used glues stick again, but if you had spray adhesive that would very likely work a tread as well), and position it on the front of your card. Press firmly to make sure it sticks well.


DONE!

Write on it and pop it in an addressed envelope and into the post!





10 comments :

  1. I love the idea of sewn cards. I've never seen them done with a frame before... fabulous idea!!! Your cards look great!!!

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  2. I love this! What a great idea, will be raiding my old scrapbooking stash today I think!

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  3. They look great! I've made a pretty bookmark for my Mum, all will be revealed on my blog next week.

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  4. I love sewn cards but have trouble with the tension too! But yours are very pretty and look like they can be whipped up pretty quickly. :)

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  5. Very nice! Since I completely forgot about mothersday I need something quick and easy and might well do this, ta x

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  6. great idea!!!! the cards are beautiful. You have a lovely Mothers Dat too xxx

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  7. they turned out so so lovely! And such a simple and clear tutorial - well done!

    I have to confess that for mother's day, all my mum and mother-in-law will get from me is a phone call! And my poor step-mother wont even get that (although given she is travelling in the US - I'll email her instead).

    hope you have a lovely mother's day!

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  8. They are so pretty! What a fabulous gift idea...and I love the colours you chose...beautiful! Angie xo

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  9. I really love this! I have so many scraps of fabric and this is a great way to put them to good use. So simple but so lovely! Beautifully done :-)

    I read your post above about leaving comments, so I hope this one brightens your day...yours always do :-)

    Take care,
    Jen

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