Hi all,
I’ve been wanting to try out creating postcards from old embroidery I’ve worked on and leftover blocks from quilts I’ve made in the past. I glued the fabric onto a blank postcard, added a blanket stitch round the edge so its more securely attached to the card, then added a message and stamp to the back.
I made several mistakes in the process (too much glue, and the threads in the back are showing through) but I’m pleased with the result - and the postcard arrived safely in Latvia.
There’s a thread of Postcrossing called Share Your Handmade Postcards and Mail Art. People show pictures or links to what they’re doing and sometimes as for advice.
Here’s a particularly relevant thread you should check out
And somewhere I’ve seen a long discussion of one Postcrosser’s methods for quilting cards - it was linked recently on the Postcrossing blog so you might try looking back through that
In any case I applaud your work and hope to keep seeing more of it.
I started making quilted postcards during the shutdown and I didn’t learn about postcrossing until this past December. I have participated in quilted postcard swaps outside of postcrossing and I have sent a few to postcrossers who say they like handmade cards in their profiles. In the past, I have quilted the fabric onto a Pellon product that is a stiff fusible - I can’t remember what number it is. Then I use a zig zag stitch to sew a postcard to the back. For the most recent one I sent to a post crosser, I just made the fabric part, then I glued it to a blank postcard, then zig zag stitched around it. This one was going to France, so I wanted it to be as close to postcard weight as possible. I use Elmer glue sticks -the kind you get at the dollar store - they work great.
If you want to see some of my quilted postcards, you can check out my Instagram - @spockie_
I joined Postcrossing in April 2023 and started to use embroidery on homemade postcards not long after. Then I learnt about Postcards to the Front from a forum post by @Queen_of_the_Hounds, an initiative to send postcards to Defenders of Ukraine. Since then, I have sent homemade postcards via Postcards to the Front Australia’s Ambassador @Damage every month. Below are some of my amateur creations:
One of my earliest creation sent to @JulieBash for her mother Teacher Inna:
I tried learning some of the embroidery stitches online and apply them but was not always successful. I often got the threads entangled and start over and I found better threads and felts to work with.
My biggest motivation is being able to stitch my wishes to Defenders faraway, embroiled in a mindless war. The theme of the postcards are often of animals, flowers or something whimsical. I made them with the hope that a Defender may bring the card home after all the craziness end, and craft a story around the card for children in the family.
I invite fellow postcrossers to join the initiative. Happy Postcrossing!
Beautiful cards. Postcards to the Front has now sent 12,371 cards to the Ukrainian Front Lines due to generous people like you.
To quote our founder Tamara L
As our defenders say: “psychological support sometimes is more important than food and weapons”.
Some years ago we posted a tutorial on how to make a fabric postcard on the blog! It’s more like quilting than embroidery, but maybe you’d like to have a look for inspiration!
I have made more fabric postcards, here is one of my created which I made from a leftover block for a quilt I made a few years ago. This one the reciever uploaded another photo, so its interesting to see the damage that was made on its journey. Gives it more character I think.
And here is another I made, inspired by the receivers profile as they said they liked poppies. I experimented with some different stitching and styles for the stems.
I think quilting the postcard before sticking it to the paper makes it look so much better.
How great to see all embroidered postcards! Thank you all for sharing!
In the mail art community there are also people who turn fabric into a postable piece (speaking for myself, in the past I knitted some envelopes😊). And some combine fabric with paper. All of it I think very inspiring.
On the mail art network site IUOMA there is also a group dedicated to fabric/embroidery and other kinds of textile/yarn etc mail art:
