A couple of days ago I showed you these cards that I made for the 1st birthday of my friends’ twins, who had a Mickey and Minnie mouse themed party. As promised, here’s how to make them. Their simplicity makes them eye catching (not to mention easy to make) and the thick glossy thread adds some textural interest.
You will need:
- A piece of A4 card cut in half – this will give you enough for two cards.
- Scraps of coloured card
- Embroidery thread
- Hand sewing needle
- Sticky tape
- Craft glue
- Pencil
Trace around the template on your coloured cardboard and cut it out neatly. Using your pencil, on the right side of the cardboard lightly draw dots close together all around the shape, a few millimetres from the edge.
Use your needle to poke a hole through each of your dots. By drawing them first it’s easier to keep them neat and evenly spaced. Poking each of the holes from the right side (where you’ve drawn the dots) also helps give a neater finish as the other side of the holes doesn’t look as nice. Once you have made the holes, gently erase any remaining traces of pencil.
Separate the embroidery thread in half, so you are working with just three strands and then thread your needle. Secure the thread on the back of the cardboard with a small piece of sticky tape. This is less bulky than a knot that might pull through the hole.
Now you can sew through the holes all the way around the shape. Once you’ve sewn all the way around you need to decide if you want it to be Mickey Mouse or Minnie. For Mickey Mouse, simply secure the tail of thread with another tiny piece of tape on the back and cut off the excess. If you are making a girly Minnie Mouse, leave the tail of thread there for now and I’ll show you how to add a bow.
Draw and cut out a simple bow shape.
Cut a small piece of cardboard for the centre of the bow and poke two holes in it with your needle. Poke two holes through the centre of the bow, using the separate centre piece as a guide so the holes line up perfectly.
Sew through the holes in the bow to attach it to the mouse. Sew through the bow twice to make sure it’s held securely.
Secure the tail of thread on the back with a small piece of tape and cut off the excess thread.
Fold your rectangle of plain card in half to form the base of the card. Apply some craft glue all over the back of your mouse silhouette and stick it to the front of your card. Don’t use too much glue though, because you don’t want it to seep out around the edges of the mouse. If you like you can bend up the edges of the bow a little bit to make it more 3D. Now your card is finished and ready to be given to someone special!
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Great! I was wondering about the process of stitching, it didn’t come to my mind to stitch the decoration before glueing it to the card.
This is a very helpful tutorial, thanks a lot.