Sew-along Fabric Patchwork Cards

[RocketScientist]

A few people wanted me to do a sew/craft-along, so here it is. This is for making 5x7 cards with patchwork squares/rectangles, but I've also made 4x5.5 ones, and you can choose whatever pieceworking you like (squares, triangles, crazy-patch, whatever). Also, for this sew-along I used already-made blank cards, but in the past I've also used card stock and cut & folded it to fit envelopes.

Ingredients: Fabric scraps, thread, HeatNBond Ultra, card stock or blank cards. Also sewing machine, iron with ironing board, rotary cutter, and mat. :)

First, gather your scraps together, and choose some that you like the look of together. I cut mine into 2.5" strips to begin with.
http://www.kjsl.com/~gibbsm/SewingMamas/sns_cards/fcardsns02.jpg

Sew some of the strips together at the short end, and press.
http://www.kjsl.com/~gibbsm/SewingMamas/sns_cards/fcardsns03.jpg
http://www.kjsl.com/~gibbsm/SewingMamas/sns_cards/fcardsns04.jpg

Sew two long strips together, and then another 2 long strips. Press.
http://www.kjsl.com/~gibbsm/SewingMamas/sns_cards/fcardsns06.jpg
http://www.kjsl.com/~gibbsm/SewingMamas/sns_cards/fcardsns07.jpg

Start cutting the sewn strips into 2.5" and 4.5" lengths.
http://www.kjsl.com/~gibbsm/SewingMamas/sns_cards/fcardsns08.jpg
http://www.kjsl.com/~gibbsm/SewingMamas/sns_cards/fcardsns09.jpg

Juggle the pieces around until they look nice to you - you may have to cut a few other 2.5" squares to fill in, if you like a more random-like pattern. Make sure that you're making the patchwork wide enough for the cards that you'll be making. I have 4 squares across, but on smaller cards 3 squares may be sufficient.
http://www.kjsl.com/~gibbsm/SewingMamas/sns_cards/fcardsns10.jpg

Strip-piece them, and then keep sewing them together until you have a block of patchwork of sufficient size to make 3 or 4 cards (mine made 3). Make sure you steam iron in between steps for a nicer finish.
http://www.kjsl.com/~gibbsm/SewingMamas/sns_cards/fcardsns11.jpg
http://www.kjsl.com/~gibbsm/SewingMamas/sns_cards/fcardsns12.jpg
http://www.kjsl.com/~gibbsm/SewingMamas/sns_cards/fcardsns13.jpg

What it should look like at this stage:
http://www.kjsl.com/~gibbsm/SewingMamas/sns_cards/fcardsns14.jpg
and on the back:
http://www.kjsl.com/~gibbsm/SewingMamas/sns_cards/fcardsns17.jpg

Now set your iron to NOT steam (dry), and down to a silk/nylon setting (on my iron, that's number 2)
http://www.kjsl.com/~gibbsm/SewingMamas/sns_cards/fcardsns15.jpg

Cut a strip of HeatnBond Ultrahold to slightly LESS than the width of your patchwork. You'll be trimming the patchwork to fit the card, and it's better not to go all the way to the edge with the N&B if you don't want a sticky mess on your ironing board or iron (trust me on this).
http://www.kjsl.com/~gibbsm/SewingMamas/sns_cards/fcardsns16.jpg
http://www.kjsl.com/~gibbsm/SewingMamas/sns_cards/fcardsns18.jpg

Iron the H&B onto the back of the patchwork, as the instructions say. It doesn't take very long to do this step.
http://www.kjsl.com/~gibbsm/SewingMamas/sns_cards/fcardsns19.jpg
http://www.kjsl.com/~gibbsm/SewingMamas/sns_cards/fcardsns20.jpg

Wait about 15-20 minutes, and peel off the paper backing of the HeatnBond. Admire its shininess.
http://www.kjsl.com/~gibbsm/SewingMamas/sns_cards/fcardsns21.jpg
http://www.kjsl.com/~gibbsm/SewingMamas/sns_cards/fcardsns22.jpg

Cut the patchwork so that it is just a little smaller than the front of the cards.
http://www.kjsl.com/~gibbsm/SewingMamas/sns_cards/fcardsns23.jpg
http://www.kjsl.com/~gibbsm/SewingMamas/sns_cards/fcardsns24.jpg
http://www.kjsl.com/~gibbsm/SewingMamas/sns_cards/fcardsns25.jpg

Iron (dry iron, silk/nylon setting) taking care to get all the edges.
http://www.kjsl.com/~gibbsm/SewingMamas/sns_cards/fcardsns26.jpg

Finished cards!
http://www.kjsl.com/~gibbsm/SewingMamas/sns_cards/fcardsns27.jpg
http://www.kjsl.com/~gibbsm/SewingMamas/sns_cards/fcardsns28.jpg

Thanks for looking!

[nutmeg]

got it!

[ZandLsMom]

:bow:Thank you!

[Mommatothebear]

Thanks!

[KelliR]

Thanks!

[Krista]

Very nice!
What a sweety to do a sew along :)

[SewEsperanza]

Thank you!

[umma]

is there a substitue for heatNbond ? I doubt I will be able to find it here (not that it's not here but, I don't know where to look).

[heather4285]

i tried those once and that is SO not how i did it. no wonder they didn't work at all.:think:

thanks!!!

[caz]

Thank you. I can't wait to try it.

[RocketScientist]

is there a substitue for heatNbond ? I doubt I will be able to find it here (not that it's not here but, I don't know where to look).
I only used HeatNBond because I had a whole bolt of it in my closet that I hadn't found a use for yet! I expect you could use any other brand of iron-on adhesive. And I suppose in a pinch you could even use rubber cement or a glue stick or something like that! :) Or you could sew directly to the paper, around the edges.

Heather, there are other sew-alongs for fabric cards that sew the fabric to the paper - are those what you've tried in the past?