We recently got our gorgeous Christmas cards. Can I just say hooray for die-cut cards? Our photographer just started carrying them this year and I love them. The cards are amazing, but the included envelopes were not so special. The plain ivory envelopes left something to be desired. I saw this idea for fabric lined envelopes from See Kate Sew a while ago. I knew it would be the perfect way to dress up the envelopes.
I needed to line over 25 envelopes for our Christmas cards, so I found a few ways to streamline Kate’s process. I used two fat quarters of cotton fabric and a roll of Heat N Bond lite. For the fabric, I used some I already had on hand. I chose two patterns that I thought complimented the cards. The red orange print is so happy and the black and tan plaid plays off the iron fence in the family picture.
I used one of the extra envelopes to make a template. I traced the opening of the template first. Then I ripped the envelope open.
I cut the template about 1″ larger than the tracing. Then I cut the glued part of envelope off the template.
I ironed the Heat N Bond to the back of the fabric. I pieced a few smaller pieces of Heat N Bond together to cover the whole fabric. With the Heat N Bond paper backing still on the fabric, I traced the envelope template onto the paper backing. I tried to fit as many possible. For my 5 x 7 inch envelopes, I was able to fit about 12 inserts on a fat quarter.
I cut out all the inserts. I peeled the paper backing off the fabric. I inserted the fabric into the envelope lining the top up with the glue line. Then I ironed the fabric onto the envelope. I used my mini craft iron for this project to allow for more control. For the part of the fabric insert that goes inside the envelope I just ironed right over the paper.
I love the fabric lining! The fabrics I chose, although not Christmas-y, work very well to make opening our Christmas card a little more festive. Check out what else we are stuffing in our Christmas cards this year.
Sharing this project here:
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Oh, they’re fabulous! I wish I’d waited to send my cards out – I totally would have done this! Thanks for sharing your method!
Thanks for sharing this great idea – with great instructions as well. Side note: I am quite in awe of your house color scheme!
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This is gorgeous! Never thought to line my cards with fabric!
Wow! Awesome idea!!
Thanks for the inspiration! I’d also like to use this for some unusable gift bags I want to recycle. They’re beautiful bags but have big stickers on one side or a big written message on them that makes them un-regiftable. There’s a whole other clean side though that can get cut up and used in this project.
Cheers!