Choosing card blanks for stitching

In order to display the stitching at its best the card material used should not be too flimsy; it should be strong without being excessively thick. A card weight of around 300gsm (110 lbs) would be ideal. The card used for samples on this website is 300gsm white hammered. We use a hammered finish card to add interest but smooth finish card stitches just as well.

Stitching Cards patterns are designed to fit on a 104 x 152 mm (4.5 x 6 inches) card. They will also fit on A6 cards.

You can either stitch onto a single sheet of card which is then mounted on a blank greetings card, or you can stitch on to a double-fold card that is a one piece solution to card stitching.

Tri-panel double-fold cards

As the name suggests, tri-panel double-fold cards have three panels and two fold lines. The panels are of approximately equal size. They should not be confused with gate fold cards that also have three panels, but the left and right panels are half the width of the middle panel. The stitching is worked on the middle panel. When the paper embroidery is complete you fold the right-hand panel inside to cover the back of the stitching.

An Internet search for ‘Tri-panel double-fold cards’ may find a supplier, or see our Useful Links page.

Single-fold cards with extra rectangle

If you cannot obtain double-fold card blanks then stitching on a suitable sized rectangle of card and mounting this onto a blank greetings card is an excellent alternative. If you mount your stitched rectangle on a card of a different colour it can create an attractive border.

This pattern is stitched on a rectangle of card with angled corners. This is mounted on decorative paper and a cream greetings card.

The pattern is the Stitching Cards Dreamcatcher pattern.

This card was made by Capricorn.

Aperture cards designed to hold photos

Another option is to stitch on a suitable sized rectangle of card and mount this in a tri-panel aperture card. An Internet search for ‘4 x 6 inch photo insert note cards’ may find a supplier, for example, a UK website called Craft Creations has 150 mm x 203 mm tri-panel cards with an aperture of 94 mm x 145 mm. Whilst the image area is slightly smaller than the stitching pattern, most designs have sufficient safe area to allow for this.

Stitching Cards Birthday Bonnet

The picture shows the Stitching Cards Birthday Bonnet design mounted in a photo insert note card. This card was made by Cheyenne Callwell.

Customer card gallery

Visit our card gallery to see more examples of how customers have stitched on a rectangle of card and mounted it on another card.

See our Useful Links page for equipment and materials suppliers.