House fabric postcard

I participate in the Birthday Swap on my fabric postcard group and I created this one for my next swap partner.
I have had this house concept in my head for a while now and the paper piecing I did for my last swap encouraged me to give it a try and see how well it would work.
I started with the house rectangle and then found a triangle which would work for the roof.  Next I found some blue pieces that I could use for the sky and the floral greenery fabric for the background landscape around the house.  I found a pieced length of browns for the foreground.  It was a bit short so I added another length of brown brick looking fabric.  I started by stitching the sides (greenery to blue sky) to each other and then I stitched them to the house.  I positioned the roof over the large sky rectangle and stitch it to the house with the sides.  Next, I stitched the brown piece to the pieced one and then stitched this large piece to the bottom of the house rectangle I had just created.  I ironed all my seams and then trimmed the whole thing to 6" x 4".  I added iron fusible webbing to the back of the roof and ironed it into place added hand stitching to it afterwards.  I found a small dark red scrap to use as my front door, added fusible webbing to the back and ironed it into place.  I stitched all the way around using black floss, added a yellow half moon window and hand stitch around it with yellow floss.  I added a small gold sequin with a large french knot to create the doorknob.  I added some hand stitched flowers on either side of the house as well.  I stitched batting to my white backer, layered on my front and then stitched all the way around to attached all the layers to each other.  I created a chain of single crochet stitches using textured dark green yarn and stitched to the each of my postcard using dark green floss in an over hand stitch.   To finish off my postcard I used a small piece of fusible fabric, added my handwritten message using a permanent marker and ironed it into place above the door.  Pretty happy with  how this one worked out!!  Looking forward to trying this design out again with different colours.              Therese

Fabric postcard that features prairie points, sequins and hand stitching

I created this fabric postcard for the birthday swap on my Trading Fabric Postcards group.  I started by creating the prairie points and worked up my design from there.  I stitched them to the edge of an orange strip, pressed them over and added a line of stitching in white to hold them in place.  I folded and pressed the other side of my orange strip leaving it about 3/4" wide. Next, I created a navy patterned border from a strip of fabric by just folding it in half and pressing.  I laid it on the top edge of  my orange strip and stitched it in place.  Once I had that created I looked for a piece of fabric that would work for a background for my focal element.  I found some green fabric with a bit of floral texture in a darker shade which worked well.  I added a layer of batting and stitched several wavy lines across to secure the two together.  After laying my focal element on the background I decided to add another layer above my strip in dark green.  I cut a strip about 3/4" wide, added fusible webbing to the back and then die cut it with a scalloped Sizzix border die. To finalize my design I positioned my element and then positioned the green strip with the scallops just above it then fused it to my background.  I embellished the scallops with orange sequins with green seed beads - one in each scallop and finally adding some blue stitching in each valley.  Next, I stamped celebrate (SU) three times in dark blue ink across the orange strip.  I applied fusible web to the back of my focal element and fused it below the embellished scallops.  I added a white backer and added yet more lines of wavy stitching in between the ones I had created earlier which tighten the visual texture of the background.  I applied fusible webbing to strips of green fabric to use as my binding and trimmed strips to fit each side.  I lay the strips on the front overlapping about a quarter of an inch and fused it in place.  I flipped the postcard over, folded the remainder of the binding strip to the back and fused it into place.  I repeated the procedure for the three other sides.  Once they were in place, I added two lines of stitching using orange thread to very neatly finish off the binding.  A much different look than the last few I have made but I am as happy with it as the others.  It is off to my partner in hopes that it will arrive before her birthday!!         Therese

A funky fabric postcard featuring a pink leaf

I created this fabric postcard for a birthday swap on my fabric postcard group.  I started with a portion of a fabric collage which I created a while back using a variety of strips I purchased at a thrift store.  I had perused my inspiration folder earlier in the day and found one that had a large leaf so decided to make that my theme.  I was having difficulty envisioning anything that seemed reasonable so I went back to the folder to see what had inspired me and I could not find the image I had checked out earlier so I was left to go back to creating without any further input.  I eventually chose this pink solid and floral that coordinated to create my leaf by stitching two small pieces together to create the center line.  I used a pencil to draw the leaf before cutting it out and then I laid it onto my collage.  I thought it needed a bit of a stem but pink seemed out of whack so I chose two pieces of green from my small bits stash.  I layered them and slipped them underneath the leaf before I added stitching.  I used dark green thread for the stitching passing over the perimeter several times.  Next, I did the center line and all the veins several times.  To finish off the postcard I cut a piece of batting and an ivory cotton backer, pinned them together and stitched all the way around the edge and then filled in between the edge and the leaf in an all over pattern.  I dug through the baggie of strips (the same ones I used for the collage) to see if had something that would work for the binding.  I found this great fabric with a greenish background and some flowers some of which worked with the pink leaf so I applied fusible webbing to the back of several strips to create my binding.  It was easy enough to trim the strips to the length I needed and then fuse them one at a time to the postcard.  I started with doing the front left hand side and next I fused the strip to the back.  I repeated this three more times to finish all the sides.  I stitch twice all the way around using pink thread.  I like this binding method.  After a bit of checking it out I decided that I needed to add some yellow green thread to the leaf to help it fit in better with the whole postcard so I dug through my thread stash, found what I needed and added the stitching.  That helped to make it all work together.  I dug through my little stash of inkjet printed quotes and chose this one about focusing on what you want to add to my postcard.  The whole fabric sheet was fusible before it was printed so I simply needed to trim it out and adhere it to my card.  I decided to add stitch just for fun!!!
Mine does not seem to be a beautiful as the one I recollect seeing in my inspiration folder.  I am not sure what I am missing but I expect it has to do with my colour choice.  I did audition LOTS of fabrics before I chose the pink but maybe I should have kept trying.  I am happy with how it turned out but next time I think I will have to create more contrast between the background and the leaf for the whole design to be more effective.  It is always a learning experience!!!!
It will be off to my partner in time for it to arrive for her birthday!!              Therese

A little birdie on a fun and funky fabric postcard

A fun fabric postcard for my partner in the birthday swap in my Trading Fabric Postcards group.  I started with a fabric collage I created a while back with colourful strips of fabric.  I have recently created several postcard using these fabric collage for the backgrounds.  I knew I needed a bold fabric for my little birdie so I kept looking until I found this fishy fabric.  It was perfect.  I applied fusible webbing to a small scrap, traced the birdie sticky note I used on these cards and trimmed it out.  I had enough to make two so I will have a spare birdie that will show up in a future creation.  I used a punchie of the wing (paisley) to trace two wings as well out of blue fabric which I had also backed with fusible webbing.  I defined the eye and the beak with a black sharpie marker and then fused it to my background.  I fused a strip of green fabric across the bottom to simulate grass.  I stitched all the way around the birdie several times using greenish yellow thread and stitch him legs and feet.  I adhered the wing and added stitching to it as well. Really happy with how it turned out!  I added a piece of batting and a white cotton backer, stitched all the way around the edge to secure all the layers to each other and then stitched around the bird in an all over pattern.  I added fusible webbing to several strips of greenish yellow fabric and used it to bind the postcard.  I cut a length for one long side, positioned it on the front overlapping the edge and used the iron to fuse it in place.  I turned the whole thing over and fused the rest of the strip to the back.  I did the other three sides to finish it off.  I used the greenish yellow thread to add two rows of stitching to the binding which finished the whole postcard off very nicely.  I used a small strip of white fusible fabric for my quote which I hand lettered using a black fine tipped Sharpie marker.  Very happy with how this one turned out!!  It is off to my partner to arrive in time for her birthday.     Therese

A fabric postcard featuring wax crayon fabric and an inkjet printed quote

Time for another fabric postcard for my birthday swap on my group.  I started with a piece of this fabric collage which I created a while back using slim strips of fabric which I acquired in one of my thrift store visits.  In order to have the flower pop a bit I decided to use a piece of the wax crayon fabric I created a while back.  I like that it is a bit stiff because of the wax which means it cuts very crisply.  I hand cut the petals from the pinky purple scrap and laid them out on my collage background.  I dug in my fabric scraps to find some green for the leaves and chose this green and white one.  On hindsight, it does not have enough contrast when compared to the background.  It is a learning curve!!  I trimmed out by hand a stem and two leaves and put them on my postcard.  Once all the pieces were in pinned in place I started stitching starting with the leaves in dark green thread.  Next, I used a deep purple on the petals, then changed to a light purple for the perimeter and then used yellow to accent the center of the flower.  I really like how that worked out.  Then it seemed like the leaves were too dark so I added some yellowy green stitching to them which helped.  I added a layer of batting and a white cotton backer and stitched all the way around the edge and then filled in all around my flower in an all over pattern using a light teal thread.  I really like how that worked out as well.  The stitching does not pop too much but coordinates nicely with the background.  I auditioned several fabrics and chose this purple with swirls which worked well with all the elements for my binding.  I applied a strip of fusible webbing to the long edge of the scrap and trimmed it out with my ruler and cutter.  It was long enough to binding all the way around the postcard so I trimmed out four pieces - one for each edge.  I applied the binding to the front by ironing it into place and turned over the postcard and fused the remainder to the back.  I repeated the same procedure for the other three sides.  I stitched all the way around the edge twice in a yellow green thread.  Really like this binding method because it is very neat.  I added a quote that was printed on an inkjet printer on fusible fabric.  I trimmed it out of the sheet, fused it to the postcard and added stitching at both ends.  Lots of fun to use the fusible fabric to create words that can be used on fabric creations!!  I have used stamps and ink in the past which I like as well but this method allows so much more flexibility in font size.  So now that it is finished I will package it up and send it on its way to arrived at my partners location in time for her birthday.
Therese

A fabric postcard embellished with rick rack, stitching and an appliqued sunflower!!

On my fabric postcard group, Trading Fabric Postcards, I have joined the birthday swap where we make postcards for each participant for their birthday - just over a dozen postcards for the year!! You can make the postcards any time provided you send them in time to arrive for everyone's birthdays.  I like that I can choose any theme or technique for the postcards which allows me to learn along the way!!  For this postcard I started with a section of this fabric collage which I made a while back.  It had a transition from dark horizontal strips to brighter vertical strips so I stitched on a piece of red rick rack to help visually divide my postcard into two areas.  I found the sunflower in my stash and fussy cut it out of the fabric after applying fusible webbing to the back.  I found a little strip of green and a small piece of dotted green from which I cut two leaves.  They didn't coordinate as well as I would have liked so I watercoloured the leaves of the sunflower, the stem and the two leaves until I was happy with how they looked together.  I added two layers to the bottom edge on the right to create "ground" on which to situate the flower.   Once the flower pieces were dry I fused them to the collage above the ground starting with the stem, then the flower and finishing off with the leaves.  I used dark green thread to add stitching to the leaves, the stem and around the center of the sunflower.  It gives them more texture and a bit more definition.  I added stitching to the ground as well while I was at it.  I cut a piece of batting and a white backer, layered them and stitched all the way around the edge in dark green and added lines of stitching in the dark area as well.  I changed the thread to a light purple and stitched all the way around the sunflower going up and down between the different pieces.  I auditioned several fabrics before I found this red one with tiny white polka dots which worked with the colour scheme of the postcard.  I applied two strips of fusible web to the back of the fabric trimming them out in between then cut out the pieces I needed to bind all four edges.  I positioned a strip on the front of the long left hand edge and fused it in place.  I flipped the whole postcard over and fused the remain piece to the back.  I did the same three more times with the pieces I had trimmed out.  I used white thread to add two rows of stitching all the way around to finish off my binding.  I added a little quote which was inkjet printed on white fusible fabric tucking it just below the rick rack at the top.  Very happy with how it turned out and now it will be mailed off to my partner in time for it to arrive for her birthday.     Therese

Paper pieced fabric postcard

On my fabric postcard group they issued a paper piecing challenge.  I had to research what paper piecing was to decide whether I would take the challenge.  I have to say that it was a bit intimidating to figure it all out.  Eventually, I found a pattern that I thought I could manage - a little tree.  I had to reduce the pattern to make it work on a postcard and the pieces ended up quite small so I just combined every second one to give 6 pieces in the tree and then the two side pieces.  It took some diligent following of the directions to get the first three correct. I did get one wrong and had to undo my seam and start again.  To expand the square design into a postcard I added a piece on each side.  I used copy paper to print my pattern and forgot to shorten my stitching for the first two so when it came to removing the paper it took a bit more effort to remove those two pieces.  I would not want to make a whole quilt with paper pieced blocks and it certainly would be handy to have the "add a quarter" ruler for any large project.  I am happy with my first try.  I dug all the pieces I needed from my scrap bin.  On hind sight, it would have been better to choose some more sedate pieces for the sides but I was having difficulty visualizing the end result but I think that process just gets easier the more you do it.  After adding all the pieces removed the paper and trimmed my postcard to 4" x 6", added batting and stitched along of my line using green thread on the tree and red on the side pieces.  Next, I cut a piece of white to 41/2" x 6 1/2", added fusible webbing to the edges then centered my postcard on the backer folding the overhang to the front and fusing it in place which effectively bound my project.  I added stitching in white on the side pieces to secure the backing to the remainder of the postcard.  I crocheted a single chain using some textured yarn and couched it onto the edge using the zig zag stitch on my sewing machine with green thread.  I like that look!!  To finish off my postcard I hand stitched some seed beads to the edge of my pieces on my tree.  That worked out well.  Therese

Qulited scraps fabric postcard

I created this fabric postcard using precut triangular scraps which I received in a scrap pack.  I stitched the triangles to create squares then stitched the squares into strips that created black triangles.  I stitched the strips together to create this cool looking arrow pattern.  Once the edges were trimmed even I was a bit short to get the four inches I needed for the postcard so I added a strip of red and blue fabric which provided just the bit of punch of colour that was needed.  I added batting to the back and stitch around all the pieces.   I created a backer and stitched it to the back of the postcard with a line all the way around.  To finish it off, I decided to use one of the quotes that my sister printed for me on fusible fabric using her inkjet printer.  I trimmed this one out, fused it to the front of the postcard and then stitched on these cool little plastic embellishments.  I couched gold braiding into the blanket stitching I did all the way around in white crochet thread.  I like this nice and neat finish to this postcard.  Very happy with this very graphic fun postcard which will be off to by birthday swap partner.  Therese

Fabric postcard with a geometric pattern and hand stitching

 I am part of a birthday swap on my fabric postcard group - Trading Fabric Post Cards.  I have seen cards where the shapes of the images in the fabric have been hand embroidered so I decided I would try that on this one.  The fabric has geometric patterns and elements and a wonderful colour combination of red, purple, sienna and turquoise with a bit of blue and black!!  You can see below a before shot of the fabric - the strip is printed and part of the fabric. I wanted it to be highlighted so I added an extra layer of batting just behind the strip and stitched it into place before stitching the same size piece of batting to the front of my postcard.

With the batting in place I started adding hand stitching - first around all the elements in the areas above and below the strip.  I took same colour embroidery floss and did running stitch around all of the elements doing all one colour at the time starting with the black, then the purple, turquoise, blue and finally the yellow.  I wanted to highlight the red area as well so I just added short tiny stitches randomly in all of those areas.  I like the texture that the hand stitching provides!!  Next, I added hand stitching to the squares in the strip.  In this area I added hand stitching in a different colour than the printing. For example on the black center elements I used red and purple to highlight them.  I used the those same colours on the outside borders and in the black corner elements as well.  Lastly, I added yellow to the corners of all the squares.  Wanting to bling it up a bit I added sequins in the center of the squares which I just stitched in place using large french knots.  As I was stitching I was thinking of a theme regarding having special days.  I was inspired to make one of the squares a gift by stitching a gold ribbon to the top to simulate a bow and to add the quote which reads" today - the present".  The squares reminded me that often every day looks very much like the one that came before with a few changes.  We get to choose to see it as "the present" that it is and certainly when we celebrate a birthday we get to make it special by adding to it activities, people and things that have meaning for us.   The quote is hand written on iron on fabric label tape, coloured with watercolour and ironed into place below the gift.  To make the bow, I simply folded gold ribbon to make a V and stitched it into place above the square that became the gift.  I added a white backer to which I had stitched some pellon and stitched my front and back together very close to the edge all the way around.  I braided three lengths of black fiber and used black thread in a zig zag stitch to finish off my post card.  I am pretty happy with it!!  Very different that some of the others I have created.  You can check them out here. This one is off to my partner to arrive before her March birthday.      Therese

Vintage fabric postcard crazy quilted in pinks and greens

 I signed up for a Vintage Postcard swap on one of my groups - TFPC.  I decided to make it using crazy quilting fabric piecing and embellish it with hand stitching.
I started with a little cross stitch which I started months ago and finally finished.  There was some unraveling involved which may have contributed to the delay.  I machine stitched my little cross stitch to a piece of muslin and then started adding pieces of fancy fabric in pinks and greens - my favorite colour combination.

 These little scraps of fancy fabrics were a RAK in a swap I participated in on my Crazy Quilting group.  Judith asked all of us what our favorite colours were and a little package arrived along with our swap.  As you can see, they are very nice fabrics and it did not take very much of each to create this postcard so there are will be a few more from those scraps.  I have done the piecing technique before where you add strips all around a central element for crazy quilting but I obviously should have reviewed the instructions before I started.  I eventually had to top stitch some of the pieces in place so some review will have to happen before I do it next time.  Fortunately, crazy quilting is very forgiving and

there are few rules to be followed.  You can see above what my postcard looked like before I started stitching it.  It is always fun to add stitching and embellishments!!  I have a stitching book with directions for lots of stitches but the most fun is combining them to make nice borders to embellish the seams.  I started by adding the lace and also created a stitched butterfly and a sequin flower with a stem.  The flower border was fun too which was the element with the most colour.  I am pretty happy with all the stitching - it took a whole day!!  Once the stitching was finished I cut it down to size but because of how I finished my hand stitching I was not wanting to cut my threads so my post card is a bit larger than the traditional 4" x 6" that we normally create on the group.  Hopefully, that won't be too much of an issue for my swap partner.  I created a white layer for the back and added a piece of pellon to it before I stitched the front and back together with straight stitch all the way around the edge.  I am expanding my options for finishing the edges.  This is the first time I have ever used ziz zag on the edge.  I wanted to embellish that a little bit so I crocheted a single chain from pink yard and couched that into the stitching.  I originally used green thread over the pink yard - that was not good!!  So I unraveled that and used pink thread instead and that was much better.  I really like how the edge worked out!!  I will be doing that again!!  So my postcard is ready to go and will be mailed off to my swap partner in the next few days.  Therese

Fabric postcard featuring candles and paper beads

A fabric postcard for the birthday swap on my Trading Fabric Post Cards group.  I love how this one turned out!!  I started with some fabric that I coloured with wax crayons.  After ironing it very thoroughly I was able to get most of the wax out yet it left pretty much all the colour. You can check out the fabric I painted here.  I cut a piece that was 6" wide and then went looking for a fabric that coordinated. I found this striped fabric scrap that was perfect!!  I trimmed the striped fabric to 6" as well and stitched them together.  I did find that my sewing machine had a bit of trouble with the waxed fabric - it was having difficulty feeding it through so it might have been better had I used the waxed fabric on the top instead of the bottom.  Something to watch for next time!  I decided that the stripes looked like candles and that would be most appropriate for a birthday post card.  I added a small piece of batting to the back and stitched all the stripes individually to give "the candles" definition.  I added Heat and Bond to the back of a small piece of yellow fabric and hand cut 11 little candle flames - one for each candle.  I wondered whether there would be any problem getting the heat and bond to adhere to the waxed fabric but there was no problem.  I ironed them all into place and used a fine tip permanent marker to add a wick to each one.  To give them a bit of dimension I used an orange watercolour pencil to add a bit of colour and then used a small wet brush to soften the colour and spread it out a bit.  I stitched the silver ribbon over the bottom section and applied my hand lettered & watercoloured quote over it.  I created it from iron fabric label tape so it simply needed to be ironed into place.  I added two sequins on either end keeping them in place with large french knots.  I thought it still needed a bit of something so I used light yellow floss and running stitches to create light rays around my flames  It added texture and did pretty much what I had hoped it would.  On hind sight, I wish I had added some sewing machine stitching to the bodies of the candles as they are quite plain.  They could have used some texture as well but with the ribbon & quote in place it was not convenient to make that happen.  With the hand stitching done I created a backer from white fabric and creatively stitched some batting to it using my sewing machine.  I put my back and front together and stitched all the way around close to the edge. Once I decided on my edge treatment I realized that it would have been more appropriate to have used coloured thread to stitch all the way around so I used a marker and ruler to carefully apply colour to the white thread to tone it down a bit.  Worked quite well!!   I decided to use the paper beads that I created a while back in my edge treatment.   I cut them in half, covered them in coordinating decorative paper and then included them along with some pink E beads when I blanket stitched all the way around.  It was nice to be able to use a larger needle with fine crochet thread on this piece as it easily managed the holes in the Ebeads and the paper beads.
As I was creating I reflected on my quote - "shine your light".  We are only ones who can shine our light - no one else can do it for us!!  We have the ability to choose to shine bright or not.  We can only be perfectly ourselves because we have a unique set of talents and abilities which cannot really be compared to those of others.  I hope my swap partner will see that we are more the same than not but being different makes us unique and that is worth celebrating especially on our birthdays.
Therese

"Every Day - A Gift" fabric postcard

It is the beginning of a new year and I have a new list for my fabric postcard birthday swap!!  I decided to use the quote  "every day - a gift" for my postcard so I went looking for a background and some small scraps which would work well for the gifts.  I found this soft teal fabric which worked well for the background so I cut a 4.5 x 6.5" piece and then cut a white backer the same size.  I have a small envelope of fabric scraps which have fusible adhesive on the back from previous projects so I started there looking for little squares and rectangles to create the gifts.  I found what I needed in there - just a little trimming to make them square on the sides and then I layered them onto the front of my postcard making sure that they would not interfere with the seam allowance.  I ironed them all into place once I had the layout worked out.  I decided to stitch around all of them to help define them and that allowed me to add the ribbon/fiber ties I wanted to add to create the bows.  Once the gifts were finished I used my Making Memories stamp set and stamped on my quote in dark blue.  I stitched my batting to the backer and then placed them good sides together and stitched around the perimeter leaving a gap so I could turn it inside out.  The front is fairly stiff with all the fusible adhesive on it so it was a little more difficult than I had anticipated but got it done.  I ironed it flat and then stitched all around the edge to keep it nice and neat. Next, I tied all the bows which I had pinned out of the way while I was sewing.  I am really happy with how it worked out!! I will be packaging it up and mailing it off tomorrow.  It should arrive for her birthday near the end of the month.  I am really enjoying these fabric postcards and the birthday swap is fun because you can challenge yourself to new techniques and ideas!!

Therese

Fabric postcard with a cardinal

I created this fabric postcard for my birthday exchange on one of my groups!!  My partner's birthday is on Christmas and I thought that a cardinal would be appropriate so I went looking on line for examples of how others have featured cardinals on quilting projects.  I found a few ideas and a few patterns.  The one I found could not be printed large enough so I just hand drew the shapes by hand on scrap paper.  It was too big for the postcard so I redrew it with better guidelines which worked much better.  I found this great red fabric (4"square) in my scraps and traced my drawing onto it placing the wing above the back as a separate piece. I used fusible web to back both pieces and the worked on the small pieces for the beak and the face.  I backed them with fusible web as well and ironed them onto the bird.  I added fusible webbing to the wing too. Next, I needed a background and from my scraps I chose this beautiful snowflake fabric.  It was long instead of wide so I cut it in half and sewed the two piece to each other and trimmed it to 4" x 6".  I added batting and stitched all sorts of wavy lines all over it.  Next, I positioned the cardinal and ironed him into place and then did the same with the wing.  I added a line to the beak with a fine tip permanent marker and fused the wing into place as well.  That was looking like a cardinal!!  It needed a bit more definition so I stitched all the way around the bird and wing in red.  It does not show up as much as I had hoped.  I created a backer and stitched it to the back of my postcard starting with a trip all the way around the border and then an all over design around the bird.  Afterwards, I remembered that I had meant to add a tree branch of some kind and a black bead for the eye.  It was easier than I thought it would be to stitch in the branch with green floss and sew on the black bead for an eye.  It does not show up as much as it appears in real life.  I added narrow fusible webbing to the back of some green fabric and cut out strips to create my binding.  Once it was fused on the postcard all the way around I stitched it with ivory thread.  On hind sight, green might have been a better colour but that is the way it goes!!  I will be sending it off in time for it to arrive for her special day!!

Therese

Butterfly Wishes fabric postcard

Another birthday postcard for my birthday swap on one of my groups.  I had three little squares of pieced green fabric which coordinated with the butterfly really well so I went looking to find another piece that worked with both of them and found this beautiful scrap of red!! Perfect!!  I sewed the three little green squares to each other to create a strip, sewed on the scrap of red and trimmed out a 4" x 6" piece for the front of my postcard.  Next, I searched for a piece that coordinated for the back which was big enough to come to the front as a binding.  I cut this backer from a larger piece of fabric but I love the way it coordinates with all the pieces I had already chosen.  I added fusible web to the edges of my backer and trimmed it to be wavy.  I cut and laid down a piece of batting and positioned my front over it and pinned them all together.  I put red thread on the top and yellow in my bobbin and stitched an all over wavy design to connect all the pieces and provide some stability for the postcard.  I trimmed the corners out, folded the sides to the front and ironed them into place.  I couched some deep yellow yarn with a zig zag stitch over the wavy edge of the binding using the same red and yellow thread.  Like how that worked out!  I positioned my butterfly - a self adhesive fabric embellishment - on the front, drew a flight line which I embroidered with gold thread before adhering the butterfly in place.  I used a marker to add "Buttefly Wishes" in red.  It will be winging its way to my partner this week!!

Therese

A birdie fabric postcard for a birthday exchange

I created this fabric postcard for a birthday swap on one of my groups!!  I started by sewing two blue scraps to each other and then I stitched two green ones together.  I applied fusible web to the dark green fabric and trimmed it roughly to look like a treed horizon line.  Once I had ironed it to the bottom of the blue piece I trimmed the whole piece to 4" x 6".  I then added a piece of batting to the back and stitched wavy lines across the whole thing using blue thread for the top portion and green thread on the bottom section. I fused a piece of white cotton to the back to give the whole thing a bit more body.
To create my little birdie I created a collage button using a scrap of yellow and red fabric paper.  Once it was dry, I created a little beak out of dark brown fabric to which I had fused some webbing so I could just iron it in place once I was happy with how it looked.  I positioned my button, then placed my beak and ironed it into place and stitched the long legs with dark brown embroidery thread.  I added a black brad to create the eye of my bird.  I worked on making a tail and a wing using tulle and bits of fabric scraps which were cut off when I was creating this postcard.  I tied the tulle into the holes of the button to create the wing and added a few of the yellow scraps to add a bit of colour and bulk.  I used yellow embroidery thread to sew the button to the postcard and left the ends long once they were tied off to add yet another bit of texture to the wing.  I tied off another section of tulle with yellow bit included to create the tail which I glued to the back of the body of the bird once it was stitched in place.  I did find that the wing was a bit too undefined so I hand stitched the fibers together with brown floss and tied them off loosely.  That was better and I added a glue dot just beneath the wing so it would stay in the right position.  I bound my postcard using a dark brown polyester trim which I sewed to the front, folded over the edge to the back and restitched so it would stay in place.  Very happy with my little birdie postcard which will be winging it way to my partner in the next couple of day.    Therese

Birdie fabric postcard for a birthday swap

Another fabric postcard for a birthday swap on one of my groups.   I started with a piece of this fabric collage background which I created a while back.  I added batting and then some crazy quilt hand stitching on all of the lines between the different fabrics.  I then cut a paisley shape out of light blue fabric and stitched it into place with my sewing machine going around several times to give the bird some definition and once in the middle to create the wing.  I added a beak using a small triangle of heat & bonded black fabric.  I hand stitched the eye, the legs and feet and the frilly tail feathers in black.  It needed something to help define the ground so I added some turquoise flowers with green stems and yellow centers.  That worked!!  I stitched on a black border with zigzag, added a white anf pink floral backer and stitched it into place with straight stitch all the way around.  Next, I  folded over the black border and adhered to the backer with fusible web.  I restitched the border with straight stitch really close to the outside edge to finish it off.  Pretty happy with how it turned out though it is a bit busier than I thought it would be when I started!!
Therese

Fabric collage postcard with bunny lace

I created this cool fabric postcard for a birthday swap on one of my lists. I started with a piece of this fabric collage.  The bunny lace comes off of a thrift store find which also had these two bunnies embroidered in the corners.  I added batting and a white backer and then machine stitched all the way around until I had stitched the whole surface finishing with a line in the center.  I stitched a strip of pink plaid to the top of my bunny lace and fused it to the front of my postcard.  I thought it would be cute to use the "some bunny cares" quote on the front so I decided to create a custom collage

button.  You can check out how to make collage buttons by following this link or clicking Tutorials above, scrolling down to the link and clicking on it.  They are a very neat way to make a custom embellishment for your projects.  The process is easy - I adhered a plastic circle die cut to a circle punchie of decorative paper on which I hand lettered the quote and punched two holes to make it a button once it was dry.  I added a coordinating punchie of cardstock and stitched it to the front of my postcard using blue embroidery thread.  I finished the outside edges of my fabric postcard using thin crochet thread in a variegated pink colour using the button hole stitch.  Very happy with how it turned out!!  Therese

"Some bunny cares" fabric postcards

I created these fabric postcards the other day from a thrift store find that had bunny lace and these two little embroidered bunnies!  I ironed the fabric and discovered that because the pieces were rounded these little guys would need to have additions in the corners to create a 4" x 6"postcard.  I added triangles of yellow that coordinate with the bows around their necks and then cut them to size leaving a half inch on each long side so I could fold them over to the back and adhere them in place using fusible hem tape.  When I cut the backs I left them a half inch longer on each short end so I could fold them over to the fronts and thereby creating finished edges all the way around my postcards.   I added some batting between the two and fused my edges down.  This worked very well for finishing them off nicely.  I stitched all the way around the edge as well to get all the layers nicely connected.  I added a line for the to and from and then stitched in some grass with green embroidery thread.  I had been experimenting with fabric labels for my next project so I had two of these little "some bunny cares" labels so I applied them to the bottom of the postcards.  I will be sending these as RAKs when I feel inclined to.

Therese

Three fabric postcards with little birds

After taking a look at my list I discovered that I had two fabric postcards due in early April!!  They needed to be on their way very soon!!!  So I dug out some fabric scraps and created three backgrounds.  In my internet search I had found some birds made with a half of a circle so decided I would make several of them to add to my backgrounds.  I stitched some coordinating yellow fabric to a substrate then cut out three half circles.  I kept digging to find several scraps that I could cut into smaller half circles to create the wings on my birds.  I used fusible webbing to adhere the wings to the bird's bodies and then the same to adhere the bodies to my backgrounds.  I used a scrap of my binding material for this postcard to create tails for my birds.  I tucked the tails just below the bodies and then hand stitched all the way around the wings and the bodies with a tight blanket stitch to have them properly stitching in place.  I added a black sequin secured with a large french knot to create an eye for each of them.  A bit of black fiber is what I used to hand stitch their legs and feet.  At this point, I remembered that I should have sewn my backgrounds to the batting BEFORE stitching on my birds but knowing that it was important I made it work by machine stitching all the way around the bird in a variety of lines.   I was careful to overlap the legs so they would not look like they had been harmed in the stitching process.  I prepared several backers starting with white fabric and adding some pellon to stiffen them up.  I did not have enough for my last one so I usedt a layer of heavy fabric which worked reasonably well.  I stitched the backers with a waves or a grid design before I fused them to the back of my postcard fronts.  I trimmed all the edges to neaten them up.  On the top postcard I incorporated a green nubby fiber in my blanket stitch to finish off the edge. I like the look and it would be fun to incorporate some funky fibers such as eyelash, fuzzy and maybe several fine ones braided together to give them more body.

I did vary their positions on the background - this one is look right instead of left.  You can better see the machine stitching I did on the background on this one.  I added pink bias tape trim to finish off the edges of this postcard.  

This one is looking right and closer to earth!!  I added some blue fiber to the edge of this one using one of the stretch stitches on my sewing machine.   It worked quite well though I may have needed a more substantial fiber to mask the white innards of the postcard. Lesson learned!!  

So two of these will be off to the members of my Fabric Postcard list  which are having birthdays in early April!!  Lots of fun making these postcards but I will be back to paper cards this week in preparation for my next cardmaking class.  

Happy Creating!!

Therese

A birdie fabric postcard!!

I worked on this fabric postcard for one of the girls on the Birthday list yesterday and managed to get it finished this morning.  I needs to be on its way to arrive in time for her birthday!!!  I stitched together three pieces of fabric - a blue tone, a green tone and a brown tone to simulate a landscape.  I added some batting, a white backing and then stitched a grid over the whole of it in white thread.  I have seen some of these little birds on line both in the fabric and paper world so I thought I would try to make one.  The body is just over half a circle in dark blue and I added a double wing in red and orange.  The tail feathers are red swiss dot and the beak, a triangle of yellow.  I added fusible webbing to the back of all the pieces and layered them as I went. Orange wing to red wing, then the wing to the bird, then the beak and the tail feathers where they needed to be and then the bird to the postcard front.  Once they were in position I used black thread and a small zigzag to stitch them into place.  I added two legs using the same zigzag stitch.  I used straight stitch for the beak and added a yellow sequin with a black bead for its eye.  Love the way it turned out!  I added some polyester trim in dark brown around the edge which very nicely framed the whole thing!!  It is off to my partner in today's mail!!

Therese