Fabric Note Cards & Postcards

Before this past Valentine's day, Jedi Craft Girl, one of my favorite follows on instagram, shared a "how to" tutorial on fabric Valentine's cards using card stock and a fabric panel from Riley Blake Design's fabric collection called "Hello Sweetheart." I fell head over heels in love with this fabric and knew it would be perfect for my kids' preschool Valentines this year.

I purchased my Hello Sweetheart fabric by the yard from UberStitch on Etsy. The panel and a couple other prints from the collection are still available, if you are interested. It was like $3.50/yard, so excluding the labor, it made for a pretty reasonable Valentine option! I found that the yardage stretched pretty far too. I was able to make 50+ Valentines AND 30 fabric note cards out of a yard of this fabric panel and 3 coordinating fat quarters, and I still have some fabric left!

This is what the panel looks like when you buy yardage of it. You get so many cute little sayings

Below are the post cards we made for my boys' preschool friends. I gave cards with certain sayings to the girls and certain sayings to the boys. The more 'loving' sayings we reserved for grandparents and cousins. It was so easy to use the fabric to make these. Each saying was boxed out in either a square or a rectangle on the panel, which made it very easy to cut each one out.

I bought fabric in 3 coordinating prints from the collection to use as the background fabric for the cards. I mixed and matched the various background prints to the saying cut outs as I went, until they were all to my liking.

You can refer to Jedi Craft Girl's tutorial to see how to make these adorable Valentines postcards for next year. She even includes a printable template for the backside.

They were pretty easy to make. I just printed the postcard template onto heavy card stock and cut them all out. I then spray basted the little boxed sayings onto the background pieces of fabric and sewed around the edges of the saying.

In Jedi Craft Girl's tutorial, she included a layer of filling/batting in between the fabric and card stock. I ordered some to use, but it didn't come in time. So I just spray basted the background fabric (with the boxed saying already sewn onto it) right onto the card stock. I sewed around the outside edges again to secure the fabric. I used two different colors of thread that coordinated with each card to trim everything out and add some extra cuteness. And that's pretty much it!

Note

You could first baste and sew the background fabric on to the card stock, and then add the boxed saying cutout in the middle and sew that on.  But keep in mind, for everything you sew on to the card stock, you will see the stitches on the back.  Therefore, sewing something in the center will create stitches that show through right in the middle of your postcard on the backside.  This may get in the way of any writing you want to add later on.

I found it looked best, while still adding a homemade feel, to just see the stitches around the outer edge on the backside. You can see this "border" on the postcard side in the photos above.

My oldest son helped me write the messages on the backside for their preschool friends. I wrote "Happy Valentine's Day" and he signed his name and his brother's name on all 50+ of them! He was such a trooper!

I also found packs of paper mazes in the dollar bins at Target. They had cute little sloths on them (they are the green paper attached in the photos above). I thought they served as a cute little "sugar free" gift to add to the Valentines and would give the kids a quick activity to do. We taped one to the back of each Valentine with washi tape and passed them out to my boys' friends at preschool.

And yes, you can actually mail these out! Jedi Craft Girl's postcard template is the correct size for sending via US mail. We sent a few to our family back in California, and they loved getting them as a fun little Valentine's Day surprise in their mailboxes!

Check out these other handmade items for sale in my Shop

After making all the Valentines, I still had a decent amount of the fabric panel left. So I thought I would use it to make some handmade, folded fabric note cards.

First, I found card stock in coordinating colors - black, various reds, white and hot pink. I took a store bought note card I had on hand and opened it so the whole thing was laying flat on my card stock, and I traced around it to get the right size. I then cut out all the cards and folded them in half to get the crease. Now I knew the exact size I needed to cut my fabric out for the front.

My oldest son wanted to make some cards too, so that 3rd photo above is the card stock he picked out.

I love cards: collecting them, sending them, all of it!  So I have a ton of different sized note cards and envelopes on hand that I used as templates for this project

I cut out my note cards in two sizes: a 3.5"x5" size (using the black card I had on hand) and a 4"x5" size (using the red happy face card I had on hand).  I believe the 4"x5" is a pretty standard sized note card. You could, of course, just measure and cut any size you want. But, you need to make sure your note cards will fit in a standard sized envelope.  I was not going to attempt to make my own envelopes, and since I have plenty of them in my stash, I made sure I used note cards for my templates that fit inside simple white envelopes I had on hand.

If you don't have any envelopes on hand like me, you can always purchase them on Amazon or pick some up at any office supply store. They are pretty inexpensive.

The rest of the steps are basically the same as I listed above for the Valentine's postcards. After you gather all the fabrics you want to use and have your card stock all cut out, you:

• Cut out the little boxed sayings from the fabric panel
• Cut out background fabric to fit your note card size
• Match up the boxed sayings to the background fabrics and the corresponding card stock, until they are all paired up to your liking
• Baste all the fabric to the card stock
• Sew the fabric around the edges to ensure its secure
• Write a message on your note cards to send to someone special
• Fold the cards in half, stuff inside your coordinating envelopes and mail them out

You'll see some purple fabric/cards mixed in these photos. I figured while I was making note cards, I would make a few extra in a purple color scheme out of fabric from my stash.

Here are photos of my process:

Above is how my fabric looked after I cut it all up, matched it up and basted it together. I found some of my favorite match ups were of contrasting colors/prints; like the black and red or light pink and red. I liked mixing the different floral prints together too. You can't be too busy for a note card, so have fun with your fabrics!

I love the polka dots! You can never go wrong with a polka dot print

In the above photo, my fabric is all basted on the card stock, but not yet sewn on. You may be inclined to skip the last step of sewing around the edge. Although it is possible because the fabric is well adhered with the basting spray, I wouldn't suggest it. The fabric will fray with the raw edges exposed. So sewing at least prevents it from completely unraveling.

And although this is just a card and will probably not be kept forever, I still feel like the stitching adds such a unique and fun texture. Something you just can't get with a store bought card.

Lastly, I just sewed along all the edges. To make sure the stitching stood out, I went around two to three times. I think this made everything look nice and finished and allows you to clearly see the stitches on the backside.

The above photo shows you all the colors of thread I used for this project. To make the sewing go a little quicker, after I basted all the cards, I put them in stacks based on what color of thread I wanted to sew them with. This way, I'd be able to sew all of the cards with red thread, for instance, at once and wouldn't have to change out my thread as often.

Check out the fabric note card sets available for sale in my Shop here

I just love this fabric and project so much!

Just look at the two-toned stitches that poke through on the inside of this white card stock.  You can't get that from a store-bought Hallmark card!!

Note

Unlike my Valentine postcards, here I basted all of the layers of fabric onto the cards first and then sewed it all on. Since these are folded note cards, the stitches show through on the upper inside flap only. There is still the bottom inside flap to write a full message on. I liked seeing all the stitch-y goodness and think it adds to the homemade feel and uniqueness of these cards. And it isn't an issue like it was for the postcards since there is plenty of room for your message!

Another thing to note is the color of card stock you use to ensure that your message is legible. So, black card stock may not be the best idea. However, if you are married to the idea of using a dark card stock for your cards, then just glue a square of white paper on the inside bottom flap to write your message on. You could even sew around that edge too to be really fancy!

I get all the heart eyes when I look at these little cards. I mean, how cute are these??

Wouldn't it be a sweet surprise to receive a handwritten note on one of these cards? I have some for sale in my Shop if you'd like to purchase a few and make someone's day!

And in case you were wondering how my son's cards turned out, here they are below. He used various papers and stickers from my old scrap-booking stash. I think these are going to be loved by their future recipients just as much as my finished cards, but then again I'm a little biased!

I hope all these fabric note cards put a smile on your face and inspire you to gift something handmade to a special someone in your life!