How to Make Fabric Invitations
- 1). Spend a few minutes sketching out a design for your fabric invitations and decide what you want the finished invitation to look like. This is called your fabric art and should depict the shape or design your finished invitation will be. For a housewarming party, your fabric art might be a simple house shape with a chimney. For a child's birthday, you could use the child's age, or a special interest or sport, as the shape of the invitation. For a graduation, you might want to adapt a scroll, tied with a ribbon in the middle. For a wedding, choose a bell or two conjoined hearts.
- 2). Note on your sketch the approximate size and placement of the fabric art, as well as where and what size you'll need the text of the invitation to be.
- 3). Use an index card to draft a sample of the invitation text. Print neatly. Include such information as what the event is, who is being honored, when the party is (day, date and time), where it is and other pertinent information, such as whether children are permitted, babysitting will be provided, gifts will be accepted, or whether (and where) the honoree is registered. Also include a name, contact number or email address, and date for an RVSP.
- 4). Gather your materials. Acquire fabric that is easy to cut, such as cotton. Make sure it's themed to the event, such as ribbons and candles for a birthday, or to the honoree's interests, such as soccer balls for a soccer player's birthday party. The fabric could be solid colors, linked in some way to the event, such as school colors for a graduation. For a wedding anniversary invitation or a similar milestone event, such as a retirement or a 21st birthday, consider using thumbnail photographs of the honoree through the years, printed from your computer. You might use the progression of photos, glued to fabric, in your invitation's design.
- 5). Decide how you will compose your fabric invitation designs. Choose complementary fabric patterns and colors for the different fabric art elements. Choose an attractive fabric as the background piece on which you'll layer and glue the other pieces of fabric into your desired design. You can either cut the fabric itself into the desired shape or cut out a cardboard pattern first, then cut the fabric to fit the pattern.
- 6). Once your materials are in hand, put together a sample invitation. First select the background fabric and trim it to shape.
- 7). Cut out sample designs and shapes for your event-themed fabric art. Decide where you'll place the art, and where you'll insert the index card that contains the text of your invitation.
- 8). Lay the pieces into place, but don't glue them. Trim shapes and sizes as needed until your pieces all fit in place.
- 9). When all pieces fit into their spaces, carefully glue each piece into place. Use this sample as your template for making the other fabric invitations.
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Trim the index cards to the approximate size you'll need. Write the invitation text and set the cards aside. - 11
If you find that you're not comfortable cutting out fabric designs freehand, use some of the cardboard to make simple patterns. If you are making a house, draw a square for the house, smaller squares for two windows, a triangle for the roof and three small rectangles, one for the chimney, one for the front door and one for the welcome mat. Instead of "welcome," your mat could say "You're Invited." - 12
If you decide to use cardboard patterns, lay the pattern on the back side of the fabric, and trace it with a fabric pen. - 13
Cut out the fabric pieces to fit the shapes. Cut out all the same shapes at once, beginning with the fabric you have chosen to be the background. If you're making a dozen fabric invitations, cut out a dozen background pieces first. Then, if you're using squares for windows, cut out all the windows at the same time. Stack your pieces as you cut them. - 14
When all the elements are cut out of fabric, begin putting the pieces together to match your template. You may choose to glue the pieces to cardboard, to create a firm backing for your invitation. - 15
You may also choose to create a border for your fabric invitation by gluing pieces of lace, ribbon or rick-rack around the edges for a more finished appearance.
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