fabric postcards

Good old MMSA. As soon as I think I'm nice and ahead of the game in getting postcards done for the weekly prompts, Karen posts one that makes me work at it.

Non-Paper postcards.

I read that and immediately thought 'fabric', because (a) I have so much of it and (b) because I know how to make fabric postcards. I'd just picked up a gorgeous shirt at a thrift store with no purpose in mind, other than the fabric was lovely and a large men's (= lots of fabric) 100% silk shirt for $1? Yes, please.

It had sea turtles all over it, so I cut off the sleeves, took the hems out, then lay them out on my cutting board. Next I cut a 4"x6" window in a sheet of paper and held it here and there until I found areas that looked good. I got 6 pieces from the two sleeves with material left over!

I cut 3 pieces of stiff interfacing, then began to machine stitch with a heavy variegated thread in a few different colors. When I had the basic areas done, I dug out various fibers and laces from my crazy quilting days and stitched them down.

Ironed on two-sided fusible, then ironed on pieces cut from a vintage napkin for the back. Zigzagged around the edges and waa laa! - fabric postcards. It took me about 3 hours total to do 3 of them. I might do the other 3 pieces I cut but not for the swap. They're kind of labor intensive, so 3 will do for now. Hope their eventual recipients enjoy them. Double click to embiggen and see all the stitching detail.