Fabric Art Postcards: how-to

Fabric art postcards seem so easy. Simple, yes, but making them took me a lot of thinking and working out details. I took notes on each step, so that I can make them again -- maybe for Valentine's Day. You can use any design you like. 

I took the finished cards to the post office to make sure the cards are acceptable size and weight. 

1. Cut heavy watercolor paper (Arches 140#) into 4" x 6" pieces.

Getting ready to cut watercolor paper

2. Cut background fabric into 6" x 4" pieces. I used beautiful, heavy unbleached linen.

3. Make stencil for Christmas tree and heart out of cardboard. 

4. Cut tree from off-white silk or an old lace curtain.

5. Cut heart from red cotton. Silk in this small and curved shape would be pretty, but would probably fray.

6. Glue background fabric to card. PVA glue applied in a very thin coat is best.

7. Glue tree and heart where you want them. Just a dot or two of glue in corners is enough because you're going to sew it in place.

8. Using an old needle because you're sewing through heavy paper, sew around edges of the tree, using zigzag stitch Width 3 on the Bernina machine, and Length 1 1/2. I used matching color thread.

9. Sew down the heart, using zigzag stitch Width 2 and Length .5.

10. Sew around the edges with a close stitch for linen, to prevent raveling. Zigzag stitch Width 5.5 and Length .5.

These stitches worked for me, but you can play around with other sizes. You can also use a running stitch or some other decorative stitch. 

Then turn the card over, address it on the right-hand half, and write your message on the left-hand half, just like any other postcard. Don't forget the stamp1