Scrappy cards

A couple of years ago I was part of a Christmas card exchange with a group of quilters from all over the US and Australia. I wanted my card to be something quilt related. I never learned how to make cards where you cut out the center and sew the fabric onto the cardstock. So this was the method that I came up with using my scraps to make a fabric card.

I used lots of different fabric scraps and snippets.
First thing first - iron all the little pieces so they are flat and smooth.


Take all of your pressed scrap pieces to the sewing machine.


Start sewing pieces and strips together. You can use as many different ones as you like. This is a great way to use up some of those little pieces of fabric that you just can't bear to throw away.

Press the seams. It's sometimes easier to use my little wooden presser, or just the iron, whichever is handy. I do sometimes try to press the seams open, but there doesn't seem to be any hard and fast rule. Do whatever works best for you.


I keep sewing pieces until I've got a fairly nice size to work with.

Next I draw my pattern. I really like how the heart shape turns out.

It was easy to find a nice size heart in one of my quilting books, but you could make your own by folding a piece of paper in half and drawing 1/2 of a heart. You can also do a wonky heart, or a star, or a leaf, or wherever your imagination takes you. Copy or trace your pattern onto HeatnBond (I like the ultrahold) on the smooth side. It's easy to copy several patterns and then cut them all out. Seems to save time and materials.

I position my shape on the sewn piece of fabric.





It is VERY important that you position your pattern to the wrong side of the fabric. (ask me how I know this :-)


Press the pattern onto the fabric following the instructions from HeatnBond.

Here you see two different heart patterns that I've pressed.

Now cut them out and turn them over. Voila! Patchwork hearts!


Tomorrow I'll show you how I finish my fabric card.

Happy Quilting!