Fabric Appliqué Greeting Cards:: Angela Flicker

Hi, I’m Angela Flicker from The Artists’ House and today I’m going to show you how to make fabric applique greeting cards. Before I get to the tutorial though, I thought I would first introduce myself. The Artists’ House started one happy day when I married a boy who was an artist. I too loved to create things and so side-by-side we created beautiful things together. Soon I was pregnant, and before my daughter was born I wanted the very best for her. When looking for that perfect baby blanket, I found myself disappointed with what was out there. When it came to something as precious as her baby blanket, something she would wrap up in every night, and drag around every day, well, only the best would do. Nothing was quite right though, so I designed and made her blanket, my very first quilt. One quilt turned into two, and two to three. Soon I realized that I too was an artist, not just an artist’s wife. Now I create truly unique quilts, sewn together one piece at a time. Along with quilts, I also make other things – I make things that make a house not just a house, but a home. I make things that add character, warmth, and charm to a space, without the extravagance that might otherwise make beautiful things inaccessible to those with children. Now I have two great loves, my family and my art.

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Fabric Applique Greeting Cards:

Supplies: Hot Air Balloon Template, Heat n’ Bond or fusible webbing, iron, scissors, scrap fabric, nice card-stock or scrap-booking paper, envelopes 6 1/2″ x 4 3/4″ in size, and a pen. You will also need a sewing machine, or a needle and thread, or a fine tip marker if you don’t sew.

Step #1: Cut card-stock or scrap-booking paper into 12″ x 4 1/2″ pieces of paper and fold in half to make your cards.

Step #2: Print the Hot Air Balloon Template to fit onto a 4×6 piece of paper, and cut it out. Use as a template and trace on the paper side of the Heat n’ Bond. Trace one for each card you plan to make. I made a set of four cards, so I traced 4 balloons and 4 baskets. Cut around this images, leaving at least 1/8″.

Step #3: Coordinate your scrap fabrics, to compliment the print of the paper you plan to put the hot air balloon on. When you’re finished, follow the directions on the Heat n’ Bond package and iron the fusible webbing onto the back of the fabric.

Step #4: Cut the hot air balloons and the baskets out, using the previously traced lines on the back of the fusible webbing. Practice laying them out on the cards. If you want the hot air balloon to hang off the side of the card a little, make sure you cut that off before you iron them down.

Step #5: Pull the paper side off the back of the hot air balloon pieces, or the back of fusible webbing, set the balloon and the basket in place on the card, and iron for 1-3 seconds. Since you are ironing these on paper, and not on cloth, they iron down a lot faster. Please be careful to not burn the paper.

Step #6: Using either a sewing machine, or a needle and thread, sew around the hot air balloon and the basket, going all the way around until you get back to where you started. Tie your threads off when finished. NOTE: If you don’t like sewing, you could also draw lines in with a permanent marker, connecting the basket to the balloon.

 

Your applique cards are now finished. Go ahead and send them off to someone you love, or tie them up with a ribbon and give them away as a nice handmade gift.

Thanks for letting me share this tutorial with you. I hope you love it. Please feel free to share your finished project, or thoughts with me by leaving a comment below.