Valentines Made with Colored Fabric

Hand Embroidered Fabric Postcard Valentine for Mom

Last week, I was playing with Crayola crayons and fabric.

I thought it would be fun to make a few fabric postcards and maybe a zipper pouch or mug rug.

First, I sketched a design in my Bullet Journal.

Then, I traced that design onto a piece of paper. I taped the paper to a bright window and traced the reverse image on the back of the paper.

Using an extra fine tip Sharpie marker, I drew 6 rectangles measuring 4" x 6" onto the paper side of freezer paper. I then traced the design into each rectangle.

Next, I ironed the wrong side of PRE-WASHED white cotton fabric to the waxy side of the wax paper. (I used a cotton without steam for 5-10 seconds. The paper was slick for the iron. Sometimes it moved faster than anticipated, so I kept my hands well out of the way.)

After that, I taped the wax paper and fabric to a bright window (on our back door) and used a Sakura Pigma Micron 03 pen to trace the design onto the right side of the white cotton. (Please note: the FAQ page for these pens recommends using a 05 or 08 size on nubby fabrics, and using short strokes.)

Pigma Micron markers may be heat set to fabric to be permanent. So, I took the piece back to the ironing board, placed a scrap of fabric over the ink and ironed it for about 5 seconds, romoved the fabric, and ironed it another 5-10 seconds. Now, it was ready to color.

I have colored on fabric before, following this tutorial at the Quilting Board. Since then, I read other tutorials like this one at Urban Threads and this one at Knot-y Girls Stitchery Club. Some tutorials recommend coloring the fabric with a white crayon first. (Luckily, I found a box of white crayons at Amazon. I used almost one full crayon in one day.) 

Out of curiosity, I did not use crayon on one of the rectangles. The colors came out slightly different, but I opted to use the white crayon first on another project I was coloring too.

After coloring everything in, I put a paper bag on my ironing board. (A past experience taught me to tear the bag open and be sure any spots of glue used to hold the bag or handles together were torn away.)

With the fabric side up and the wax paper on the bottom, I sat the panel of colored pieces on the paper bag. Then, I layered a clean paper towel on top of the colored area and ironed it with a dry cotton setting. I replaced the paper towel as needed. This melts the wax and leaves the pigment of the crayon behind. (The tutorials I read recommended Crayola crayons, as they have more pigment than some of the cheaper crayons.)

I pieced the smaller mailbox that was on a separate scrap for a postcard to send to my mom. (Her favorite color is pink. Several years ago, my youngest declared her gifts should all be pink, soft and fluffy. We stick with that as much as possible.)

After adding embroidery, I created a fabric postcard. 

I printed this text onto a sheet of pink card stock for the back. (It fit 2 postcard backs on 1 sheet of card stock.)

My mom received it in the mail last night and loves it. (I was a little worried. It usually takes 1-2 days for mail to travel from my home to hers. This one took 5 days.)

All of the embroidery is finished on the panel of 6. Now to play with my sewing machine to make a few more items... 

If you are interested, I can share how I make these into fabric postcards, mug rugs and zipper pouches in later posts. Just let me know.

Have you been making Valentines? If so, I would love to hear about them!

There may be sneak peeks of items shared on the Facebook page I set up this week, too. You may find it here.

Thank you for stopping by!

Renee