Sewn half flower + loose leaf fabric wedding invitations with fabric backs
Invitations & Paper, Weddings
I am totally in love with these sewn fabric wedding invitations that I designed for recent bride Natalie Fayard.
Thanks to Google, Natalie and her mother found me and my sewn fabric poppy wedding invitations that were featured in the The Knot’s 2007-2008 Fall/Winter National Magazine. Natalie had found this lovely yellow, black, white and khaki fabric that has such energy and throwback personality:
One tricky wrinkle: Natalie’s fabric had a lot of large flowers (3″ – 4″) and smaller flowers that were not “perfect,” overlapping to create oddly shaped sides when cut out. To make things worse, the “perfect” flowers were so spread out that it would require oodles and oodles of expensive yardage to get a full-flower look.
So I noodled around and designed this variation for Natalie featuring half flowers layered on top of loose fabric leaves. I couldn’t be more more thrilled with this design twist …and to tell the truth, I think I like these even better than my poppy ones.
From Natalie: “A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Kathy, they’re awesome; you are so great honestly! …Thank you again so much for all your hardwork and all the time you took to assist me with this project. I look back and have learned so much.”
You’re more than welcome to use this invitation template and design for free with the request that anyone using this template or design post a comment below or email me to track its usage. Craft and pass it on!
Supplies:
- Kathy’s sewn invitation text template in Adobe Illustrator CS3 (429K, uses Copperplate Gothic Bold and Spoleto from Novel Fonts, not Monotype. If you can’t find this version of Spoleto you could substitute Machiarge or Fenway Park)
- A6 size (4 1/2″x 6 1/4″) flat luxe cream cards OR 8 1/2 x 11 luxe cream 210g text paper (also available in bulk) or other heavy paper
- A7 size (5” x 7”) flat yellow cards
- Flowers and leaves cut out of fabric – edges should be raw
- 4.75” x 6.75” fabric squares for invitation backs – edges should be raw (optional)
- Fusible interfacing (craft, medium or heavyweight)
- Yellow thread
- A7 size (5 1/4″x 7 1/4″) yellow envelopes
- Rotary paper trimmer
OR Xacto knife
(this is my kit) and metal edge ruler
if you’re printing yourself and cutting 8 1/2 x 11 paper
- Gridded self-healing rotary mat
and rotary fabric cutter
for cutting fabric squares (you will thank me)
- Good fabric scissors
- Good iron
- Sewing machine
This time I created a special ‘how to’ video for you featuring a fun song called “Valley of the Dolls” by Mylo that my friend Chad Crosby included in a CD mix that he made for me.
Traditional step-by-step instructions and photos are after the jump. Don’t feel like making them yourself? Contact me and I’ll help.
COPYRIGHT NOTE: You’re more than welcome to use this project and template for your own personal use. Please post a comment below or email me if you use this project so I can smile when I see that it’s being used. Craft and pass it on!
Print invitations
First design the text in Illustrator using my template or your own design. You can either get them letterpressed or print them on your computer or at Kinko’s. (Note: Buying A6 and A7 flat cards will save you a lot of time because they’re already the right size. However, if you decide to print them on your own computer and your printer can’t handle odd sizes, buy sheets of paper instead of A6, print 2 per page and cut to size.)
Cut flowers and leaves
Press fabric flat. Iron on interfacing behind areas of flowers and leaves to stiffen and add weight (you can skip this if you’re using thick fabric).
Cut out flowers and leaves, making sure to cut slightly *outside* the lines. Remember not every invitation needs to be exactly the same.
Cut all large and odd-shaped flowers so that they bleed off the top of the invitation.
Cut fabric for invitation backs
Iron craft weight interfacing onto fabric (if using thick fabric you can skip this step).
Using your rotary cutter and ruler cut 4.75” x 6.75” squares, one for each invitation back. Remember all fabric edges are intentionally left raw and unfinished.
Stack your invitation and sew
Place the fabric rectangle back face down on your mat. Layer on the A7 flat yellow card next and then the A6 cream printed page on top.
Sew yellow thread through all three layers 1/8th of an inch from the cream sides; you can either backstitch or tie it off (here’s a perfectionist trick: backstitch where the flower is going to go to hide your backstitch).
Here’s what the sewn fabric back looks like.
Put the flower on the top and slip a loose leaf underneath. Sew around the edge of the flower. Leaf edges will be raw and loose.
You will see the stitching on the back of the invitation; again, this is intentional to add to the texture and handmade feel. Voila!
Get creative! Layer flowers on top of loose leaves and sew around edges
Mix and match flowers and leaves to create a range of pretty invitations.
For instance, I made these leaf-only “more manly” invitations were for Natalie and Jeff’s single male guests :)
Create bunches of variations and have fun!
Don’t feel like making them yourself? Contact me and I’ll help.
COPYRIGHT NOTE: You’re more than welcome to use this project and template for your own personal use. Please post a comment below or email me if you use this project so I can smile when I see that it’s being used. Craft and pass it on!
Comments (54)
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| By Kathy on 7/31/2009
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July 13th, 2010 at 9:24 am
Hi Lauren, kind of hard to say per invitation because I do it assembly line. I would say, less than 5 minutes each to sew it together in the end. Before that, I cut out flowers in evenings while the TV was on. For the backs, you can stack up fabric and use a rotary cutter, self-healing mat and ruler to cut a stack of backs all at once. The part I always hate is ironing on interfacing …it always seems to take so long …I guess it’s motivation to buy home ec weight fabric to skip interfacing all together. Good luck!
July 4th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
These are AMAZING – about how long did it take to make each invitation?
June 19th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
@lucy: thank you! that would be great :) my email is acampbell5@gmail.com. thanks again!
June 14th, 2010 at 11:48 am
@audrey: i found it on an internet website in Australia and got it shipped to London. post your email address if you are interested and i give you the details :)
June 1st, 2010 at 10:18 am
@lucy–i, too, am looking for fabric just like this. Where did you find this?!
June 1st, 2010 at 10:13 am
Hi! I am also very interested in finding this fabric. I am trying to make these invites for my engagement party; however I cannot seem to find an adorable fabric like this one. Can anyone tell me where to find this fabric, style number, name, etc…? Thanks so much!
May 28th, 2010 at 9:38 am
Hi! I’m Nette from Gen. Santos Philippines. I really love crafts and do inspired by your designs and ideas. Ohh…How I love to learn and try them on my own with your designs as my inspiration. Thanks a lot for sharing this on the net. May God bless you more!
May 27th, 2010 at 10:22 pm
Also @lucy – could you email me and let me know how much you are selling that fabric for and how many it would make??? I might be interested… browder.jamie@gmail.com
May 27th, 2010 at 10:16 pm
@lucy – where did you end up finding this fabric??? cause I am looking for one similar and having a really hard time.
May 18th, 2010 at 11:37 am
Hi Kathy
I love love your site. Im not very creative but since getting engage, i have been getting into the DIY little things just to make my wedding a litle more personal. I attempted to make your fabric design flower but unfortunately my sewing skills are not up to scratch and i ended up gluing everything instead. Still turned out decent though. I even manage to find the same material online and spent a fortune buying it but as it took too long to ship i ended up using another material from the local supplier instead. So if anyone’s interested, let me know if you want to buy the material from me and make the same awesome design as Kathy. Thanks for inspiring me to make something i would never have attempted!
Lucy
May 13th, 2010 at 8:34 pm
Hee hee, thank you Rosalia!!
May 13th, 2010 at 10:01 am
Dude these are
freaking
AWESOME!!!
:)
May 5th, 2010 at 7:20 am
THANK YOU for posting this. It is better than the invites I had envisioned. I plan on making these, with the help of my mother (the sewer), this summer!
April 24th, 2010 at 9:52 pm
Do you or does anyone have suggestions on where to find fabric like the one used in the demo???? I am having a really hard time!
April 15th, 2010 at 7:34 pm
@Jamie that’s great! Looking forward to seeing your creations :)
April 15th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
I LOVE THESE! I am going to use this idea for my own invitations… I will send you the finished product when I am done!
April 4th, 2010 at 6:44 pm
Hi Sheila, I used a standard size needle for the invitations. I’ve used a denim needle for thicker paper projects like my wedding booklet programs but these aren’t too thick with a normal needle. I do switch them out with fresh ones when they start to get a bit dull. Thanks for stopping by!
March 25th, 2010 at 8:24 pm
I will be featuring your invitations on my site tomorrow as part of a yellow tone wedding board. AMAZING!!
March 17th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
Did you use a certain size needle for the sewing?
March 9th, 2010 at 4:31 pm
@Carly, I’m so glad that the invites are turning out well for you! I’d love to see pictures if you’d like to share. Congrats on your wedding and have fun. August is my favorite month …my birthday is the 16th ;)
March 8th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this idea. I got married two years ago and we’re expecting our first baby (girl). I think I’m gonna try to do this for her birth announcements or baptism invitations or maybe her first birthday party. I will find a reason to use them very seen.
March 7th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
I found these invites in the summer of ’09 and am now starting to sew them for our wedding in August ’10. I am so impressed with how they are turning out. I am so excited to share this personal invite with our guests. I am planning on keeping the theme going with the menus, reserve signs and whatever I can incorporate. Thank you so much for sharing this for free. It is truly kind of you to do so.
January 30th, 2010 at 3:34 pm
Hi Megan, spring green sounds lovely. I’d love to see a photo of your invitation. Thanks for your kind words. And congrats on your engagement!
January 29th, 2010 at 11:09 am
I’m getting married in April and had been trying to find ideas for
unique invitations. I came across these and I love them!!! I just bought flower fabric in a spring green color and will be starting to make
the invitations today:) Thanks so much for the great inspiration!!!
January 26th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
Beautiful, Original…I absolutely adore this!
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:03 am
wow, those are GORGEOUS!!! I thought about trying to do these for my wedding, but the time factor to do 100 or so of them was just too much, I decided to use scrapbook paper instead.
But these are SOOO awesome, maybe I can make them as thank you notes or something instead!
November 21st, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Hi Devon, thank you so much! You totally made me smile today. I checked out your blog and etsy store. What great stuff! Thanks for posting my invitations on your blog and sharing them :)
November 20th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
I just ran across these gorgeous invitations and had to gasp. I think they are the most beautiful invites I have ever seen. I love the colors, the textured combination of fabric and paper, the stitching, the handmade detail leaves me speechless. I’m going to blog about them now and link back here.
November 13th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Hi Tasha, so glad that you like my invitations! I’d love to see what you end up doing to make them your own. And thanks for posting on your craft blog …I really like the paper stars that you have on there and think I may have to add them to the to-do list :) Thanks for making my day!
November 13th, 2009 at 9:50 am
Wow, I just love this idea! You are amazing. What lucky people to have these wedding invitations. Those are treasures! I just linked you to my craft blog where I track ideas of things I want to do. I just love these. Thank you for sharing!!
November 5th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Thank you so much for this amazing idea! My fiance and I were looking for the perfect handmade touch to our invites and you provided it. We are so excited! We’ve just started sewing. I was trying to keep a log of how much time we’ve invested but it’s such a big project. I will definitely send you pictures of the end result. thanks a million!
October 25th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
I am in love with these invites. I am really interested in Natalie’s leftover fabric. I tried to find this fabric and it appears to be gone. I hope to make these invites for my wedding in June. I will let you know how it goes.
Thanks Kathy!
September 23rd, 2009 at 7:36 am
I loved these when I saw them and knew if I could find fabric that it would be what I was doing. I searched a few fabric stores and found some at Fabricland. Mine are dark grey paper with a grey fabric with purple, white, and light grey flowers on it. I’m making about 130 invites and I am almost half way. I had a bit of problems with the white paper with the wording bumping up when I sewed around it so I had to use double sided scrapbooking tape to keep it exactly in place as I sewed.
September 20th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
I’m seriously considering using this idea for my invitations. Love them. I have a question, though. How many invitations did you make and how many yards of fabric did you use? I’ll be making somewhere between 130 and 150 invitations (which may be too many for such an ambitious project). How much fabric do you think I would need to use?
September 9th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Hi, these were my invites and I found the fabric on http://www.reprodepot.com which is a great website. I believe this is an “alexander henry” fabric and I may have purchases all they had left of it at the time. I know for sure I have extra yards as well as extra cut out flowers and leaves that I would be willing to sell you. I just need to count the yards to see if it would even be worth it!
If you’d like to email Kathy for my contact information, feel free.
Natalie
September 9th, 2009 at 1:25 am
oh my, i can’t help it but those rings on your finger makes my eyes pop-ed!
and the card…super cute and creative!
LOVE IT!
September 5th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
The black white yellow and khaki floral fabric is perfect for my daughter’s wedding. Can you tell me where to locate the fabric? It is so perfect. We have looked for fabric and cannot find anything like it. Any help you could give me locating similar fabric would be appreciated.
September 5th, 2009 at 10:13 am
These invitations are beautiful! Where did you find the fabric from?
August 27th, 2009 at 7:55 am
We made these! They are stunning. Thanks for the DIY tip! http://quitelikeit.blogspot.com/2009/08/countdown-to-big-show-2.html
August 7th, 2009 at 8:24 am
simply stunning. really, not much more to say. Can you tell me how long it took you?
August 4th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
you are going to put me out of business! just kidding! these are absolutely gorgeous- thanks for the inspiration :)
August 4th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
These turned out amazing! Thank you for sharing!
August 3rd, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Kathy, How long did it take you to do all of the invites?? I just came across this the other day and LOVE IT. It really would go with the fabric elements I’m already using at the wedding!
August 2nd, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Someone should cue the angels singing because those are AH-MAZING!
August 1st, 2009 at 9:29 pm
These invitations were the inspiration to my whole wedding theme and this was the perfect way to start the event off. The compliments were abundant and I just can’t thank Kathy enough. Truly, my mom found the poppy invites online and we felt a bit like stalkers trying to find out more about them and the creator!!!! Much to our surprise and delight, we found the merrimentdesign.com site and it’s been so wonderful to see Kathy’s amazing creative projects shared with the world. Kathy, you are truly a special talent and your help with my invitations was incredible. I frankly don’t know what my wedding would have been like without the discovery of your talents! Best, Natalie
August 1st, 2009 at 8:43 am
Such an awesome idea! Thank you for sharing your step-by-step instructions for this project. If I don’t use this for my invitations, it will definitely be used for something!
July 31st, 2009 at 8:19 pm
these are entirely brilliant. BRILLIANT. brilliant. i can’t get over it.
July 31st, 2009 at 5:19 pm
I love the idea of fabric and paper collaboration! The finished product is insanely stylish AND creative! Plus…any fabric can be used so the design possibilities are endless and these cards can be made to match ANY wedding!
*wow*
July 31st, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Love the variations. Just beeeeautiful.