Postcard (In-the-Hoop)

It’s that time of year again...

The time of candy hearts, boxes of chocolates, and too much pink. That’s right... luuuuv is in the air. And bunny knows just what his little heart desires.

Are you on the hunt for cute valentine ideas? Look no further. This week we’ve got a special Valentine’s Day project for a special Valentine’s Day design. A fabric valentine! What’s cute and craftier than that? Fabric cards are durable, adorable, and just as mailable as their plain paper counterparts, and are likely to be treasured long after the roses have wilted. I’ll show you how to stitch up your special valentine in time for the big day.

This tutorial shows how to put together the card with an embroidery machine, but hand embroiderers can send their hand-stitched love too ... just stitch a postcard front and back, then bind them together around the edges.

If bunny wasn’t on a relentless hunt for his valentine treat, you could probably see the craft supplies better, but I’m not messing with those teeth. It doesn’t matter too much though, because all you need for this project is your valentine postcard design, a printed template of the card, cutaway stabilizer, tear-away stabilizer, an empty bobbin to wind, and some fabric.

For the fabric, especially for the back piece, I would recommend a smooth, light fabric with a tight weave. You want to be able to write on your card, so I’d avoid fabrics with too much texture or grain. Muslin or quilter’s cotton works pretty well. The fabric you use on the front can be anything, but keep in mind you don’t want to make your card too thick or bulky.

To make your card we just need to stitch and assemble things in a certain order. The first file you’ll stitch up is actually the back of the card. Grab the fabric you want for the back (remember something with a smooth, tight weave) and hoop it up with some stabilizer. It will stitch a dieline, and then all the inside details.

Here’s the back all stitched out, with spaces for writing and some cute embroidery embellishment.

Unhoop it, but don’t cut it out just yet. Also if you’re worried your luvv letter would leak through your valentine if you wrote on it after you put the whole thing together, you can write up your sweet nothings now. That may also be a good idea if you’re prone to mistakes, because it wouldn't be fun to mess up after you’ve stitched everything out and stuck it together. Just a word of warning. If you mess up on this one, it just takes a second to stitch out a new one.

In order to hide the back stitches from being seen through the fabric, we’re going to give it an extra layer of stabilizer.

Unhoop it, flip your embroidery over and spray the backside. Cut another piece of stabilizer larger than your design, and lay it over the back of the stitches, smoothing it over firmly. Now it has two layers of stabilizer on the back.

Flip it back over and cut it out on the dieline. Your back piece is all set.

Now we just need to get the front piece ready. 

Spray a piece of stabilizer and lay your front fabric on top of it, smoothing them together. Spray the back of the template lightly and lay it on top.

Cut out around the dieline.

Now we have all the pieces, let’s put it all together...

Hoop up a piece of tearaway stabilizer and load up the second file. While you’re at it, now’s a good time to wind your bobbin. You’ll need to wind a bobbin to match the color of your satin stitch border (mine was pink), so the border looks the same on the back and the front. You don’t need it yet though, I’ll tell you when to put it in.

Now, I’ll show you the steps you’ll go through....

First, a dieline will stitch. Grab the front piece you just cut out, spray the back with adhesive, and lay it inside the dieline. A zigzag stitch will secure it down, and then all the inside elements will sew. You can chill out here, because they take a little while to sew. Once the inside elements are done, remove the hoop from the machine, but DON’T un-hoop it.

Now is the time to change the bobbin. Put in the new bobbin you wound that matches the outside border.

Grab the first piece you stitched out, the back piece. Spray the stabilizer side of it with a generous coating of adhesive, and carefully place it on the back of the other design, lining up the edges. Be sure you don’t put it on upside down. It may LOOK like I have put mine on upside down, but I don’t make mistakes. It was... opposite day. Yeah.

In order to press it on securely, you’ll probably want to flip your hoop over again and press on it from the front, so you don’t tear the stabilizer.

Stick your hoop back under the machine again, and it will finish stitching everything together, first with a zigzag stitch, and finally a nice shiny satin stitch border to secure everything together.

Once it’s done, carefully tear it out of the stabilizer. If your stabilizer was like mine and left lots of fuzzies around the edges, trim those off with a sharp scissors.

If you haven’t already, write your sweet nothings out on your valentine. You may want to write it in pencil before committing to something more permanent.

Yes, that’s right, I live on Awesome Avenue. Because I’m awesome.

Your crafty valentine is finished! Now you can think up all sorts of romantical-y thoughts about how to best use your newfound token of love.

Find a honey bunny.... 

Or share it with a friend or loved one on Valentine’s Day.

Happy Valentine’s Day from all of us honeys and bunnies at Urban Threads!