One-of-a-kind appliques as Christmas cards

Sunset, Nov, 1989

One-of-a-kind appliques as Christmas cards If filing out hundreds of boxed holiday greeting cards threatens to ruin your holiday cheer, consider countering the drudgery with one-of-a-kind applique cards for family or special friends.

These colorful cards (or framed pictures) can document a child's drawing, your own masterpiece, or a treasured illustration from a book, and can make use of scraps of fabric--sentimental or otherwise--found around the house.

Materials. The cards are made with railroad board. Select envelopes first, since envelope dimensions dictate how much fabric and railroad board you'll need. Also buy double-sided fusible interfacing ($2 per yard) to secure fabric layers, buckram ($2 per yard) to keep design stiff for embroidery, thread in assorted colors, and glue paste.

Tools include scissors, a craft knife, carbon paper, and a sewing machine.

Pictures require heavyweight cardboard, mat board, and a frame.

Assembling the scraps. For each design, reduce or enlarge original art so it's slightly smaller than the envelope or frame (this makes room for a mat board or fabric border). Next, transfer image (or part of it) onto fabric (or fabrics) with carbon paper, then cut out fabric and same-size pieces of interfacing.

Cut out background fabric (or fabrics). The leopard card, for example, has lawn and sky; the dog has three background layers. Also cut out rectangles of interfacing and buckram the same size as the background. Stack layers as shown in photograph at top left.

To fuse layers, place design, applique side up, on an ironing board with a paper towel on top. Wet towel with a sprayer, then iron on a hot setting. turn design over, buckram side up, and repeat.

Adding the embroidery. To conceal appliques raw edges, we used zigzag stitches of various widths. Experiment with different embroidery stitches for details.

Creating the frame. For each card, cut a piece of railroad board twice the size of the envelope; score down middle with a craft knife; fold in half. Next, cut a piece the size of the folded card; cut out middle to leave a 1/2-to 1-inch-wide frame. Tape applique to inside of frame; glue to card.

For pictures, cut heavy cardboard the size of the background. Glue design on board, then frame. Snowflake has mat board border. Equestrian has interior frame of fabric-covered cardboard.