Tiny Fabric Scraps Greeting Cards Tutorial

When I create, my studio looks as if a tornado went through it. Within minutes of stating a new project, I somehow manage to spread art supplies all over the place. It might not be pretty, but it works for me. Sometimes the mess becomes a source of inspiration, and leads to new ideas. This is exactly what happened last week, when I tried to put things away. I started collecting fabric cutoffs and thread bits that got stuck to the carpet, and before I knew it I was making tiny fabric scraps greeting cards. 

This being the holiday season, I thought that perhaps other people might also be interested in making their own, original cards. So here’s a tutorial to inspire you 🙂

Why?

• In an era of electronic communication, a real, physical card is different and precious. 
• Cards are a great way to use scraps that would otherwise go to the landfill. You can turn your tiniest fabric scraps/thread cutoffs into something useful and pretty.
• In this busy time of year, it’s nice to be able to make something quickly, in the little free time we have in between. Cards don’t take long to make.
• Often, a small artwork can ignite your creativity, and give you ideas for larger pieces you can make later.

Materials

Necessary

• Tiny fabric scraps and cutoffs from other projects. Use the bits you can’t use for anything else.
• Craft felt
• Tulle
• Sewing thread
• Embroidery thread
• Blank cardboard greeting cards (I like cards that are 6″ x 7″).

Optional

• Thread cutoffs. I’m talking about the bits you usually toss.
• Bits of ribbon
• Beads and/or buttons
• Craft glue

Process

Preperations

Collect your tiniest fabric scraps. Divide them by color groups, and pick a mixture of colors that work together and make you happy.

Choose craft felt in a matching color (I usually have small pieces of different colored felt lying around, left over from bigger projects).

Cut a piece that is 1″ narrower than your greeting cards, and 1″ shorter (if your card is 5″ x 7,”  you should cut the felt to be 4″ x 6″). That would leave a 0.5″ border around your art.

Tip: To save a bit of time, you can cut the felt to be two or three times longer than that (so 12″ or 18″ long for the same-sized card).

Creating the Background

Lay your fabric bits on top of the felt. I often tend to overthink compositions, but not in this case. This should be quick, spontaneous, improvisational. Pieces can overlap. They can be too long or too wide. They don’t even have to cover the entire felt, as the felt itself can become a part of the design (this is why using felt in a matching color helps. Gaps are less noticeable and even desired). Pin your pieces or use clips to prevent them from moving.

Optional: if, like me, you collect every bit of leftover thread, sorted by color, now is your chance to use them!

Scatter thread bits in matching colors over your fabric bits. Or not.

Cut a piece of tulle that is a bit bigger than the felt, and which would cover the entire composition. You can use any color tulle, as it would barely be visible. Do note that the color of tulle will have a very slight influence on the final shade of the colors.

Carefully take the pins out without moving the scraps. Cover the entire piece with tulle, and re-pin. Take it over to your sewing machine, and stitch. You can use a regular foot and stitch straight lines, or a free motion foot for wonkier stitches. Make sure to stitch over every scrap. Use any thread weight or color that makes you happy. With thicker threads the stitches will be more visible.

 

Adding Hand Stitches

The background is finished once all the fabric bits are stitched securely. If you saved time by working on a longer piece of felt, you should now cut your piece to its final size. Also cut off the bits of fabric that were too long/wide, to create cleaner edges.

Pull out your medium bits of embroidery threads (the ones that are too long to throw but too short for serious projects).

Add whichever hand stitch you would like. Running stitches, +, x or any other stitch will all work. A bit of hand stitching can go a long way to give a card some character!

If you have ribbons, beads or buttons you want to add for decoration, now is the time to add them.

Finishing the Edges

As for the edges, you can finish them in different ways.

• You can stitch straight lines around the piece for a raw-edge look that doesn’t fray (this is what I did in all the examples below).
• Zigzaging around the edge will create a tidier look.
• You can couch a piece of yarn or ribbon along the edge.
• If you have time and want to, you can also finish the edge with a hand stitched blanket stitch. This is more time consuming, but creates a tidy edge with character (to see this finish click here).

Here are some examples of the cards I made last week:

Finally, attach your fabric scraps collage to the blank card. You can either glue it (any craft glue or matte medium will do), or directly stitch it to the cardboard.

Have fun! Hopefully, the recipients will appreciate your unique, handmade work.

I, too, would love to see what you create, so please tag me on social media or send me pictures!

(For more ideas for scrap cards, see this blog post from a few years ago).