BERNINA Corporate Blog -Today, I would like to sew textile postcards—so-called AMCs (Artist Mailing Cards) with you. Have you ever sewn such a textile postcard and exchanged it with a sewing friend or sent it as a greeting card?
Of course, such textile postcards should be sent in an envelope. It would be a shame if your artistic work got damaged in transit. Textile postcards are often exchanged in patchwork circles and sometimes even sold. For competition entries, strict rules apply, and the standardized format must be adhered to.
Sewing a Postcard – AMC Instructions
The Format of AMCs
Textile postcards are made in a format of 10 cm x 15 cm. Using the example of this textile card, I will show you how I proceeded.
Techniques & Materials
There are so many different techniques and materials you can use to create these textile postcards… It doesn’t always have to be woven fabrics/patchwork fabrics. You probably have collected upcycling fabrics in your stash, and perhaps some silk, mesh, organza, wool, or other materials.
Even denim scraps or treasured fabric pieces from loved clothing can be incorporated.
Embellishments
Most of the time, I decorate my textile cards only with beautiful threads using freestyle quilting. You can also embellish the front with beads, sequins, feathers, buttons, rivets, glitter threads, shells, and ribbons. I think the design of the card also depends on the theme.
For this textile postcard, I mainly worked with wool fleece and the Needle Punch Accessory Set for RL Hook—it’s really fun! Feel free to check out the punch guide here: Needle Punch Accessory Guide
Themes and Motifs for the Textile Postcard
Should it be abstract or figurative and naturalistic? That’s usually my first question when choosing a theme and motif for such textile cards. I like to sketch my ideas on paper before I start sewing.
For today, I sketched a simple landscape with a pencil, optimized the lines on my tablet, and then created this sketch as a vector graphic on my computer. If you’d like, you can download this graphic and use it as a template.
Download PDF Template
This template is merely a guide for the lines of the landscape. It doesn’t have to be followed exactly. In the following photos, you’ll see that I even cut out some sections of the stencil and repositioned them when sewing. But more on that later 😉. You can also freely create your own artistic postcard, but perhaps you’d like to join me in sewing this textile landscape.
You can download the template via the following link:
Download AMC landscape template
This template was created using the Electric Quilt 8 software. As you can see, the image and the sewn postcard already differ. However, it was a great help as a guide.
Materials
Ideally, you have the materials listed here at hand. The most important interfacing is definitely Vlieseline S80, which serves to stabilize the textile postcard. Instead of S80, you could also reinforce the finished card with a piece of cardboard. Instead of using different sewing feet, you can simply sew with a straight stitch foot and decorate with a free-motion embroidery foot. As you can see, these cards can be sewn with a standard household sewing machine.
- Fabric scraps for the front
- Fabric for the back approx. 11 x 16 cm
- Rasterquick Grid
- Vlieseline S80
- Vliesofix
- Universal needle
- Quilting needle
- Various decorative threads
- Thread for sewing and as bobbin thread for fabric pieces, versatile and tear-resistant
- Rotary cutter, ruler, and cutting mat
- Fabric scissors
- Paper scissors
- Pins
- Fabric glue stick, e.g., from Sewline
- Iron
- Ironing pad
- Sewing machine
- Various presser feet listed below
Basically, I only use the materials I already have at home. There are always plenty of sewing supplies since I have been sewing for many years.
Sewing Instructions – Let’s Get Started!
It is best to create a 10 x 15 cm template from cardboard. This will help you trim the textile postcard to the correct size at the end. The template also helps to get a feel for the dimensions of the card and the fabric arrangement.
For the first time, I used the Rasterquick Grid for this sewing project, and I am thrilled. The only downside was that the lines of the interfacing showed through the light-colored top fabric. Instead of interfacing, I also like to use light fabric scraps from a bedsheet or other thin fabric. The advantage of the see-through interfacing is the ability to trace the design. If you are designing your motif freely, you can confidently use fabric as a base.
A positive aspect of the grid interfacing was that I could trace the landscape design, which greatly helped me when placing the fabric pieces.
Vliesofix
Have you gathered your fabric selection? Now you can iron Vliesofix onto the back of the fabrics. This allows you to position and iron the fabric pieces directly onto the base instead of pinning them.
Step by step, I cut out the lower parts of the landscape and arranged them on the interfacing.
Here you can see that I partially cut out the PDF template with paper scissors. These parts were placed in reverse on the back of the fabrics and cut out.
Furthermore, you can see that I do not let the fields taper to a point. The reason for this is that these areas would become too thick when sewing, so I have distributed them instead. I take this artistic freedom, and you should too 😉.
If you don’t have Vliesofix on hand, fabric glue and pins also work very well.
Once all fabric pieces are positioned on the base/interfacing or fabric, I back the front piece with a piece of Thermolam. You should cut this piece slightly larger than the front piece because, when decorating with the sewing machine, the top will shrink slightly. The final trimming should only be done at the end.
For this textile postcard, I used my BERNINA Stitch Regulator (BSR) for decoration. To get a better overview of the fabric layers, I used my transparent extension table for quilting.
Since the grid of the interfacing was visible through the upper light-colored fabric strip, I simply quilted over it with additional embroidery thread.
Stabilization
Attention, there are several ways to stabilize the postcard.
- The Vlieseline S80 is placed on the back at the end and secured with a closely set zigzag stitch, or
- The Vlieseline S80 is inserted as a “sandwich” along with an additional backing fabric.
For this textile postcard, I chose the second option. While the first method has the advantage that the Vlieseline S80 can be written on with a ballpoint pen, I simply prefer the look of the card with a fabric back.
Additionally, the fabric can be beautifully written on using fabric markers.
Before working on the backing fabric, I roughly straightened the top and glued the Vlieseline S80 to the back using a bit of fabric glue. Alternatively, you can also apply Vliesofix to the back and iron on the S80. This has the advantage of preventing any shifting.
Backing Fabric
Before attaching the backing fabric, I trimmed the sewn front piece to the desired size of 10 x 15 cm.
I cut the backing fabric slightly larger, as experience shows that fabric pieces tend to shift slightly despite using glue.
Then, I stitched both layers together close to the edge using the Edgestitch Foot #10.
Next, I trimmed the backing fabric with a cutter and stitched around the edges using a tightly set zigzag stitch. For this step, I switched to my favorite multipurpose foot, the Reverse Pattern Foot with Clear Sole #34.
The Signature
What would an artistic creation be without a signature?!
As mentioned earlier, you can easily write your signature on the back using a fabric pen. Don’t forget to include the date!
The sewn textile postcard is now finished and ready to find its place. I wonder if I should exchange, gift, or keep it for myself. What do you think?
Sewing a Postcard as an AMC – Summary
Here is a quick summary of the sewing steps for the textile postcard (AMC):
- Choose a design
- Prepare fabric scraps
- Choose a base layer for fabric scraps: either fabric or interfacing, e.g., Rasterquick
- Select threads
- Place Thermolam behind the top
- Design the front side
- Layer Vlieseline S80 underneath, either stitch lightly to attach or glue to the back of the top
- Cut and attach the backing fabric with an edge stitch
- Trim to the 10 x 15 cm format
- Use a zigzag stitch to secure all layers together = edge binding
- Sign the back
- Finished!
Did I Inspire You?
As always, I hope you enjoyed my tutorial and that it inspired you to sew your own postcard and create your own unique textile artwork!
Warmest regards,
Katharina / RaabArt
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