Friday, November 19, 2010

One Fabric, Five Ideas: #2 Gift Card Holder

Earlier this week I challenged myself to create five different Christmas items using five different images from one piece of fabric. I already shared my first idea, the embroidery hoop Christmas ornament. Idea number two is a gift card holder...


Wrapping gift cards can be tough. You can throw them under the tree in a little envelope, but you risk the card getting lost under all of the presents, or worse getting stuck to someone else's gift. You can stick your little envelope in the tree, which isn't very decorative looking. You can put the card in a little gift bag, but then the recipient may be expecting something other than a gift card. This little gift card holder solves all of these problems. It has a handy dandy little pocket on the back to hold your gift card, and you can hang it on the tree without cluttering up your ornaments with envelopes.

Plus, the recipient gets a nice little ornament that they can use year after year to decorate their tree or give again with a gift card. And like yesterday's ornament, this can also be hung on the wall, on a doorknob, or around a wine bottle. Better yet, hang it on a wine bottle with a gift card to a local winery in the back pocket.

Again, here's what the fabric looks like...


And these are the five fabric circles I chose to use in my challenge. Today I'm using the candy canes...


Materials and supplies to make one gift card holder:
  • Christmas fabric
  • Two 5½" square pieces of background fabric
  • 3" x 5½" piece of fabric for pocket
  • jumbo ric rac
  • Fusible web (I used Wonder Under.)
  • Fusible fleece
  • thread

Instructions:

First, cut a small piece of fusible web and iron it onto the back of your Christmas fabric. Make sure it covers the back of the entire image you want to cut out (in this case, the entire circle with the candy cane image). Do this before you cut out your circle. After it cools, cut around the 3" circle.

Cut your two 5½" square pieces of background fabric into 5 1/4" diameter circles (Hint: A large powdered baby formula lid is the exact right size to trace!).

Peel the fusible web paper from the back of your Christmas fabric circle, and center this circle on one of your background fabric circles. Iron in place. This piece will be the front of your gift card holder.


Cut a 5 1/4" diameter circle of fusible fleece. Iron it onto the wrong side of your other background fabric circle (the one without the Christmas circle ironed onto it). This piece will be the back of your gift card holder.

Take your 3" x 5½" piece of pocket fabric and fold it in half, short sides together, with the right sides of the fabric facing each other. Press with an iron. Sew around the three raw edges using a 1/4" seam allowance, leaving about a 1" opening for turning. Clip the corners and turn the pocket right side out. Gently poke out the corners with a blunt instrument (like a chopstick). Press the pocket, making sure to tuck in the raw edges of the 1" opening.

Get out a gift card for reference and place the pocket on the right side of the back piece of your gift card holder (the circle with the fusible fleece ironed onto it). Determine the best placement so that the gift card won't peek over the top of the circle. Pin the pocket in place, making sure to tuck in the raw edges of your 1" opening.


Topstitch around the left side, bottom, and right side of the pocket as close to the edges as possible. Leave the top open for inserting the gift card.


Take the front piece of your gift card holder and start pinning ric rac around the outside edge as shown below.


Pin the ric rac all the way around the edge, then cut it where it overlaps about ½".


Applique your Christmas fabric circle onto your background fabric circle by sewing a straight stitch about 1/8" from the edge. Then, sew a basting stitch (a very long stitch) around the outside edge of your background circle to attach your ric rac. Make sure you sew through the center of your ric rac.


Now it's time to put everything together. Place your front piece right side up in front of you. Cut a 7" piece of ric rac for hanging, loop it around, and pin it to the front of your piece as shown below.


Next, place the back piece face down on top of the front piece. Make sure the back piece is rotated so that the top of the pocket (the opening) is at the top of the gift card holder.


Pin your layers together.


Flip your "sandwich" over and sew right over your ric rac basting stitch, but this time use a tighter stitch. Leave a 1½" opening for turning. Clip all excess fabric before turning.


Turn right side out and press. Make sure you tuck in the raw edges of your opening. Pin the opening closed, and topstitch around the outside edge of the entire gift card holder about 1/8" from the edge.


That's it! You can now give out gift cards in style!


Two projects down, three more to go! Thanks for stopping by today!





I'm linking up:

The DIY Show OffFantabulous Friday!monogramUndertheTableandDreaming

12 comments:

Amy @ Increasingly Domestic said...

Oh my gosh Gwen! This is amazing! I am so going to make this!

Kristin @ Yellow Bliss Road said...

So cute! I may try this with scrapbook paper.

Unknown said...

So cute! I detest the $5 (or more!) price tag on the little gift card holders at the store. And they are not nearly as cute or multi-functional as yours. :)

Naturally Carol said...

This one's a keeper too, what a great idea and very festive!

Andi said...

LOVE it!! So creative.

chris said...

Gwen, this is darling. You did such a great job with your tutorial.

Amy at Ameroonie Designs said...

This is such a great idea! I love that you can use it after all the money's gone! ;)

KJ@letsgoflyakite said...

That is a really wonderful fabric! Great idea and excellent tutorial. I love getting mileage out of Christmas fabric.

Sandy Ang said...

They are so great !

Stephanie Lynn @Under the Table and Dreaming said...

Gwen - These are adorable! Thanks so much for linking to the party - I greatly appreciate it! I featured these today - stop by and grab a featured button if you like. Hope you have a lovely week! ~ Stephanie Lynn

Joseph said...

The idea you gave is great since Christmas is approaching. I'll probably try making one as well.

corporate gift baskets

Kate said...

This is so clever. Thanks for sharing.

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