Fabric Backed Save the Dates: A Tutorial

Remember my beautiful STD's?  Here's a reminder, just in case you've forgotten  ;)

Several of you have asked me for a tutorial, and of course I am happy to oblige!

You may remember that I got the original inspiration from Martha.  Her instructions, however, were a little lacking. Here they are verbatim:


"To make these cloth-backed cards, get yourself an easy-to-use sticker-maker called the Xyron 500. After you've fed the material through the machine -- thin fabrics like cotton work best -- trim the now-sticky piece with a rotary cutter, and then affix it to the back of the invite".

Ummm....several problems came to mind.  First of all, I do not have a Xyron, and buying one seemed excessive.  Also, I couldn't help but wonder what Martha intended to do about the edges of the cards.  I mean, wouldn't the fabric fray?

I decided to try to figure this thing out on my own, and am more than happy to share the results with you.  Keep in mind that I am not the craftiest of people, and there may be an easier way to achieve the same result.  Please feel free to modify to your heart's content!

You will need the following supplies:

• Fabric
  
• Bristol board and/or cardstock
• Paper Cutter
• Glue, and lot's of it - I used Elmer's Craft Bond Spray Adhesive, but supplemented with a Scotch Craft Stick, and a hot glue gun.

First of all, gather and trim the cardstock that you plan to use as the backing to your desired length.  I used all sorts of random scraps that I had lying around.

Next, cut your fabric at least 2 inches larger on each side than the cardstock.  I also ironed the fabric after cutting it.  I'm kind of anal retentive like that :P

Spray the cardstock with the adhesive, and place it on the material.  Use the craft stick on the long edges of the fabric, and fold them in.

Next, I cut the top layer of the unfolded material, and folded the corners of the bottom layer in.  I did this because it made the fold less bulky.

I repeated this process on the top of the backing, and glued down both sides with the craft stick.  I also ran a little bit of clear nail polish over the four corners to make sure that they wouldn't fray.  I stacked the finished cards underneath a heavy book overnight to make sure that the glue stuck.

That's it!  Your fabric backing is ready for the invitation.  Mine was made of two layers:  the yellow layer was just regular printer paper, and the white layer was linen paper from Paper and More.

For some reason, sticking the yellow layer onto the fabric was the hardest part.  I ended up using a glue gun to make sure that the whole thing stuck together.  The linen paper had no problem sticking to the yellow paper, and covered up the glue gun marks.

I hope someone out there finds this useful!  Let me know if you decide to make any fabric covered stationary yourself - I'd love to hear tips and/or success stories!