Using your sewing machine to sew paper and fabric together is surprisingly easy. Since I'd never tried it myself, I thought I'd start with a project that wasn't too complicated. It's a satisfying way to use up little scraps of pretty fabrics. Tomorrow, I'll show you how I made a coordinating envelope.

Sewing Tools You Need

• Any Sewing Machine (we recommend the Janome Jem Gold 3)

Fabric and Other Supplies

• Card stock. I used two 12" squares of Bazzil Basics card stock in colors Fussy and Pinkini which I found at Michaels. NOTE: the photo above shows white rather than Pinkini.
• Several scraps of fabric. I used Black Nosegay from Paula Prass' gorgeous Summer Soirée collection, and Lime Ta Dot both from Michael Miller Fabrics.
• Spray adhesive
• Thread. I used black on the spool and white on the bobbin.
• Scissors
• Pinking shears or paper edge cutters (optional)
• X-Acto knife and cutting mat
• See-through ruler
• Clear tape

Getting Started

1. Download and print the CARD PATTERNS template. If you plan to fussy cut your heart and leaf shapes from your fabric (as I did), print TWO copies. One will be used for pattern pieces, and one is used later to position your cut shapes onto your card.
2. Download and print the CARD WORDS template if you want to print 'love grows' onto your card stock as we did, (this is optional, you could write on the finished card by hand).
   If you are fussy cutting, follow the next 3 steps. If you are not fussy cutting, skip to Step 6.
3. Using one CARD PATTERN printout, cut out the pattern heart and leaves about a quarter to ½" outside the actual cut line. Then, cut along the actual cut line to create a frame. This will provide a little window to use in choosing where to fussy cut. As you can see in the photo below, I've placed the window over the area of fabric I want to cut.
   
4. When satisfied with your placement, fit your pattern piece back into the window, remove the little frame template, and pin the heart in place.
   
5. Follow the same process to fussy cut the two leaves.
6. Cut ONE heart and TWO leaf shapes from your fabrics.
7. From card stock, cut one 10" x 7" rectangle (I used card stock color, Fussy ). This is your backing piece. Fold in half to form a 5" x 6½" card. TIP: To make a neat fold, lightly, very LIGHTLY, score (DO NOT cut through your paper) the fold line using your see-through ruler and X-Acto knife.
8. If you want to print 'love grows' on second piece of card stock (I used card stock color, Pinkini) , use an 8½" x 11" piece of printer paper as a guide and trim your card stock using your see-through ruler and X-Acto knife. Use the CARD WORDS template to print onto your trimmed card stock sheet. When done printing, trim using the crop marks provided. This is your front piece. If you don't want to print on your front piece, simply cut a rectangle 5" x 6½" in size.
   NOTE: Not all home printers will feed even this fairly light-weight card stock, but most copy shops can easily handle it.
   
9. Using pinking shears or paper edgers, trim the edges of your front piece by about a quarter inch.
   
10. Now, we'll use a fresh CARD BASE template as a guide for positioning your heart and leaves onto your front piece. Trim your template to size by cutting around outer edge. Cut out the heart and leaf shapes about 1/8" larger than the cut line. Position the template over your front piece as shown in the photo below.
    
11. Lightly spray the back side of the fabric heart and leaf shapes with spray adhesive. Position the pieces into the template holes.
    
12. Remove the template. Lay a clean piece of paper over the top and lightly press the fabric pieces into place using the palm of your hand. Let dry for a few minutes.
    

At Your Sewing Machine

1. Use thread colors that work best with your fabric choices. I chose black on the spool and white in the bobbin.
2. Set your stitch length to a longer length, as you might use for basting.
3. Sew all around your fabric heart shape, about ¼" from the edge.
   
4. Next, sew the main stem starting at the base of the heart and sewing straight down to the edge of your front piece.
5. Last, sew the leaf stems, starting in the leaf and sewing back to the main stem.
6. Gently pull your black thread to the back side of the front piece. Trim to about ½". Tape to secure. 
   
7. Spray the back of your completed front piece with spray adhesive. Position on the right front side of your backing piece as shown below.
   
8. Sew the front piece to the backing piece about ¼" inside the edge as shown in the finished photo at the top of this page. Pull thread to the back side, and neatly knot and trim thread.
9. Write your personal message.

Hints and Tips

Be sure you have a clean work space and that you keep your hands clean so you don't get fingerprints or other markings on your card.

Other machines suitable for this project include the Bernina activa 210 and the Elna 2300.

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