Handmade Quilted Postcard Tutorial

This beginner friendly quilted postcard tutorial is so fun for the holidays! Sew and send handmade notes to your friends! suzyquilts.com #sewingtutorial

This handmade quilted postcard tutorial is not only unique, it's a TON of fun! These postcards are fast to make, utterly adorable to send and you don't even need to wrap them because they are mailable all on their own! Yes, you heard that right. You can actually stick on a stamp and send a quilted postcard through the mail. I tested this with success using USPS just to make sure.

Quilted postcards are like tiny quilts. You can send them along with a sweet little message to anyone you love and appreciate! They’re easy to make (just scroll down to see), so you really can make one for everyone on your holiday craft list. This is also a great project for using scraps, which if you know me, you know is my favorite thing.

Since they are so small (just 4" x 6") quilted postcards are easy to personalize for the recipient, or for any holiday! They’re basically the perfect mashup of a handmade quilt and a holiday card, and they make a wonderful keepsake. 

This beginner friendly quilted postcard tutorial is so fun for the holidays! Sew and send handmade notes to your friends! suzyquilts.com #sewingtutorial

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This beginner friendly quilted postcard tutorial is so fun for the holidays! Sew and send handmade notes to your friends! suzyquilts.com #sewingtutorial

Can A Quilted Postcard Be Mailed?

Sure, quilted postcards are cute. But can you mail them? Yes! Before we get started, here are your mailing options.

  • Mail it like a postcard: According to USPS, postcards cannot be larger than 4" x 6" and no thicker than 1/4". If you choose to mail your quilted postcard like a traditional postcard, you will have to use a standard letter stamp rather than a postcard stamp. You will also need to finish your postcard edges with a satin stitch rather than binding. (You can see both finishing options in these example photos)
  • Pop it in an envelope: I lean towards this method of shipping for a couple of reasons. The envelope offers extra protection for your tiny quilt masterpiece. The envelope also makes it easier for the postal service to process your card, which is particularly important during the holiday season. Sending it in an envelope means you can add a binding to your postcard, making it look just like a little quilt! As long as your envelope weighs less than one ounce you can still use a standard letter stamp. If it weighs more than one ounce, just add a second stamp!
This beginner friendly quilted postcard tutorial is so fun for the holidays! Sew and send handmade notes to your friends! suzyquilts.com #sewingtutorial

Quilted Postcard Materials

  • Postcard top fabric: Enough to make a 4.5" x 6.5" top. The holiday prints I used for my postcards are all from the Winter Frost collection, by Boccaccini Meadows for Figo Fabrics. The solids are all scraps from my stash. 
  • Batting: One 4.5" x 6.5" piece of any batting.
  • Fusible stabilizer: One 4.5" x 6.5" piece. My two favorite stabilizers for quilted postcards are Pellon Peltex #72F and Pellon Fuse-N-Shape. These are both ultra-firm, double-sided fusible stabilizers. If you can’t get your hands on either of these, any ultra-firm or heavyweight stabilizer will do, just make sure it is fusible, not sew in. 
  • Postcard backing material: You can use either light-colored fabric or cardstock to back your postcard. In my experience, the cardstock is easier to write on, but the fabric tends to be easier to work with. Another bonus for the fabric is that this can be another opportunity to dip into your scrap pile. Whichever you choose, you need a 4.5" x 6.5" piece. 
  • Binding fabric (optional): If you choose to add binding to your postcard you will need a 2" x 24" piece of quilting cotton.
  • Thread: I use 50wt cotton thread to piece my postcards. For finishing the edges with a satin stitch I like to use a thicker thread, usually 28wt or 12wt, to get a nice full look. 
  • Shipping materials: Here are the 5" x 7" envelopes I like to use. If you opt to send your postcard without an envelope you just need a stamp!
  • Straight pins or binding clips 
  • Basic quilting supplies
This beginner friendly quilted postcard tutorial is so fun for the holidays! Sew and send handmade notes to your friends! suzyquilts.com #sewingtutorial

Step 1: Create Your Quilted Postcard Top

Time to get crafty! Create your 4.5" x 6.5" quilted postcard top using any method you want. Since your quilted postcard is so small, this can be a great opportunity to try out some new-to-you quilting techniques. You could experiment with appliqué, do some fussy cutting, or maybe some improv piecing. The options are endless!

This beginner friendly quilted postcard tutorial is so fun for the holidays! Sew and send handmade notes to your friends! suzyquilts.com #sewingtutorial

Step 2: Baste And Quilt

When your postcard top is finished and pressed, baste it to your 4.5” x 6.5” piece of batting using your preferred method. I like to use basting spray for small projects like this.

Quilt your postcard top and batting together as desired. Make sure you are using a walking foot. Since we aren’t working with any backing fabric at this point, just your postcard top and some batting, the walking foot will help feed everything through nice and evenly.

TIP: If you’re planning to make multiple quilted postcards (of course you are! How can you make just one?) I recommend doing them in batches. For example, do all of your postcard tops first, then baste them all, then quilt them all, and so on. This will help expedite the process a little, leaving you some extra time for other very important holiday activities like eating Christmas cookies.

Trending patterns!

This beginner friendly quilted postcard tutorial is so fun for the holidays! Sew and send handmade notes to your friends! suzyquilts.com #sewingtutorial

Step 3: Fuse Stabilizer To Postcard

Place your fusible stabilizer between your quilted postcard top and your backing material. Following the instructions on the stabilizers packaging, use your iron to activate the glue in the stabilizer, and adhere all of your postcard parts together.

This beginner friendly quilted postcard tutorial is so fun for the holidays! Sew and send handmade notes to your friends! suzyquilts.com #sewingtutorial

If you choose to use cardstock to back your postcard, take special care if your stabilizer requires water to activate the glue. Pellon Fuse-N-Shape has instructions specifically for fusing the stabilizer to paper, but I have found that other stabilizers do just as good of a job.

Pellon Peltex 72F does require a wet press cloth to fully fuse the material. In my experience, putting the wet press cloth just on the fabric side of the postcard seems to work well enough to fuse it to the paper.

When in doubt, it’s never a bad idea to conduct a little experiment with some scrap materials! 

This beginner friendly quilted postcard tutorial is so fun for the holidays! Sew and send handmade notes to your friends! suzyquilts.com #sewingtutorial

Step 4: Trim the Tree...I Mean, Postcard!

Using a rotary cutter and quilting ruler, trim your postcard down to 4” x 6”. If you’re using a cardstock baking for your quilted postcard I would recommend using a separate rotary cutter or scissors used for paper for this step. Paper tends to dull blades quickly.

This beginner friendly quilted postcard tutorial is so fun for the holidays! Sew and send handmade notes to your friends! suzyquilts.com #sewingtutorial

Step 5, Option 1: Finish Your Quilted Postcard With a Satin Stitch

Your quilted postcard is nearly ready to head out on its adventure to your lucky recipient! You just need to finish those pesky raw edges. A quick and simple method for finishing your postcard is to create a satin stitch around the edge using a very short zig zag stitch. This is the finishing method you should choose if you plan to send your postcard the old fashioned way, with just a stamp on the back.

Grab some thread to accent your postcard. I use 28wt or 12wt for this step. Strap your walking foot onto your machine (or an overcasting foot if you have one), and set your machine to do a short, wide zig-zag stitch. Every machine is a little different, but on mine, I usually choose to do a stitch that is 3.5 wide, and .5 long. Run some tests on scrap fabric until you get the desired width and density if you aren’t sure. 

This beginner friendly quilted postcard tutorial is so fun for the holidays! Sew and send handmade notes to your friends! suzyquilts.com #sewingtutorial

Going slowly, and with the cardstock side up if you chose that as your card backing, begin stitching around one side of your postcard, until you reach a corner. At the corner, when your needle has reached the edge of your card and is in the leftmost position, lift your presser foot up just a little bit and pivot your card 90 degrees.

Try to keep your card as close to the needle as possible while you’re pivoting, to avoid any long stray threads. Continue stitching until you reach the beginning of your satin stitch, joining the two ends together.

Voila! You’re done! Head straight to Step 6!

This beginner friendly quilted postcard tutorial is so fun for the holidays! Sew and send handmade notes to your friends! suzyquilts.com #sewingtutorial

Step 5, Option 2: Finish Your Quilted Postcard with Binding

If you know that you’re sending your quilted postcard on its merry way wrapped securely inside an envelope, binding can be a sweet addition to your card! I love this method because it adds an extra quilty touch, and looks nice and neat.

This beginner friendly quilted postcard tutorial is so fun for the holidays! Sew and send handmade notes to your friends! suzyquilts.com #sewingtutorial

Press the 2" x 24" piece of fabric in half the long way to create quilt binding. Here’s where quilted postcard binding differs from regular quilt binding—you’ll join the two binding ends together before sewing them to the card. Do this by taking two straight pins and inserting them through the center of the binding 20" apart (the perimeter of your postcard), leaving about 2" extra on each side of the pins.

This beginner friendly quilted postcard tutorial is so fun for the holidays! Sew and send handmade notes to your friends! suzyquilts.com #sewingtutorial

 Take the two pinned spots in your binding strip, and lay them on top of one another, right sides together, so each pin essentially goes through the same hole as the other. With your two ends at 90-degree angles from each other, sew at a 45-degree angle, joining the two ends. Trim the excess off and press the seam open.

In case you aren’t familiar with this method for joining binding together, here’s an excellent video tutorial that walks you through it!

This beginner friendly quilted postcard tutorial is so fun for the holidays! Sew and send handmade notes to your friends! suzyquilts.com #sewingtutorial

Now that you have your binding loop, sew it to the back of your card just as you would binding to a quilt. Turn your binding to the front of the card, and pin or clip in place. Finish with your preferred method. I opted to finish mine by hand to get a seamless look.

This beginner friendly quilted postcard tutorial is so fun for the holidays! Sew and send handmade notes to your friends! suzyquilts.com #sewingtutorial

Step 6: Mail Your Masterpiece!

It’s time to spread some holiday cheer! Add a short message to the back for your loved one. If you’re going to ship your postcard without an envelope be sure to add the address on the back as well. Pop your card into an envelope, or just put a stamp on the back, and off it goes!

Holiday crafting can be such a fun way to give something truly unique to your friends and family and show them that you care. These quick and easy quilted postcards are sure to be a hit, and will leave you plenty of time to make one for everyone on your list! Who would you like to send a holiday quilted postcard to? Let us know in the comments! 

35 thoughts on “Handmade Quilted Postcard Tutorial

  1. Sarah Pehrson says:

    This project looks so fun. I’d like to send one to my nephew who is stationed in Germany with the army. Part of me wants to mail it the traditional way to give him a keepsake with his current address and any marks the postal services add along the way. The other part of me wants to make sure it gets to him!🎄🇺🇸

    • Carly Prentice says:

      I am also fond of all the postal markings from sending them the traditional way! However you choose to send it, I’m sure your nephew will be more than delighted. Happy sewing!

  2. Christie says:

    I love the quilt postcards! As a grandmother whose grandchildren live away, it’s a perfect way to enfuse emotion, memories and get their attention! Who doesn’t like a personal in-hand message!

    • Carly Prentice says:

      I can’t imagine being more delighted than if I received a quilted postcard from my Grandma! You have some lucky grandchildren!

      • Kathleen says:

        I just finished making these darling postcards for my sisters. I used what I had on hand & didn’t stress over perfection. They are whimsical & sweet. Thanks for the easy directions & useful tips!

  3. Jules says:

    I’ve made quilted postcards for a good 20+ years. I send them as postcards with a normal letter stamp, whatever the current “forever” price may be. However, I don’t put them in my box as outgoing mail. Neither do I take them to my small town (1400 pop) Post Office. All travel best when I go inside the main Post Office in the town where we do errands (25,000 pop) and ask then to hand stamp the postcards. They are always kind & willing there.
    I’ve also used a big piece of Peltex, covered in fabric, fused randomly placed hearts (in my case), quilted it all, and then cut to size. The hearts were small enough and close enough that every card had enough parts to know it was hearts. That worked well.
    Great tutorial instructions!!

    • Carly Prentice says:

      Hi Jules, thanks for sharing your experience and process in making quilted postcards! Your process of fusing to a large piece of Peltex and then cutting several postcards to size is very clever and sounds quick, I’ll have to try that next time. Thank you!

    • Carly Prentice says:

      I love the idea of Valentine’s postcards! The great thing about quilted postcards is that they’re so easy to personalize for any occasion. Happy sewing!

  4. Sabine Pelz says:

    This is a wonderful idea to process leftovers and create wonderful works of art. I will try it out for my Christmas market, thanks for your great inspiration. Warm greetings from Germany

  5. Michelle says:

    This is sew sweet!! I’m going to see if I can make a few to send to my out of town daughters, and also grandkids. I think they’ll make lovely mug rugs after they’ve been received!

  6. Deb Roth says:

    Thanks so much for this helpful tutorial! The size, materials, techniques, and mailing details are just what I needed. Your photos inspired me so much, I got busy a few days ago and made up 27 of these cuties! So much fun! I fussy cut and fused words and images from my Christmas fabric scraps as well as making up some simple appliqué on some cards. The only change I made was to use a single-fold binding for less bulk. But I pre-sewed the binding as suggested—no fussy joins! Love this! I mailed the cards in 5×7 envelopes and they are all on there way to family and friends. I believe the recipients will enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them. Thanks again.

  7. Betsy says:

    Thanks for the great tutorial, these were so fun to make! Great way to use up scraps, and it was nice to have a quick project to do around the holidays.

  8. Carlene Zach says:

    I have tapped into many quilting websites but yours is by far the most entertaining and informative with many free Pattern ideas loaded with wit and personality. Love your website!

  9. Susan Griffin says:

    Love your ideas. I have been making one postcard a week since last December. I plan to make 52 so a full year. It’s been great. I use them to try out designs, fabric combinations, new techniques etc. like a sketch book thumbnail project. Now I’d like to know how to display them all. I’m not thrilled about just seeing them all together. And I used these as a “journal” so one the back I wrote what happened during the week, what I’m grateful for this week and things like births and deaths. I’d like to be able to see that information. Any ideas?

  10. Penny says:

    I’m headed into my sewing room to try this right now! What did you use to mark the “lines” on the back? And I’ll probably hand deliver but how would you get a Christmas stamp to stick? Thanks for the tutorial!

  11. Alice Kusachi says:

    This is absolutely lovely! Thank you so much for your detailed instructions and tips. I will send birthday cards to my friends this way.
    Happy Holidays! 🎄

  12. Cathy D says:

    I have made fabric postcards for years. I mail them in clear see through envelopes that I buy on line. Also, there is a stamp that tells the post office not to run it through the machine. This is helpful if there is something dimensional on your postcard. It used to cost 65 cents, but stamps just increased and I haven’t purchased one lately. I love your tutorials and blog. Keep up the good work.

  13. Constance Peterson says:

    I have trading fabric postcards all over the world. Check out the numerous trading groups on the web. The group I am in is: Fabric PostcardsArt.
    There are plastic sleeves you can mail your fabric postcards.
    I always have my postcards hand stamp so they do not go through the machines that can ruin the card.
    It so fun to trade fabric postcards throughout the year.

  14. AJ says:

    I was looking for something small to make my sisters as our mother went home to be with Jesus in 2015. I think your idea for this mini-quilt is perfect. For the front, I am going to use fabric from our moms blouses we saved and embellish with a fabric photo I have of the 5 of us (printed on my ink jet on printable fabric I get through Amazon). For the back on the message side I will machine embroider a message or verse – so it will be like they are getting a “postcard from heaven”. I know they will each treasure this forever. I hope I can make this work. Thank you for sharing this lovely idea.

    • Joanna Lewis says:

      I love this idea, AJ. What a beautiful way to bless your loved ones and remember your mom with. I’m going to have to do this with some of my grandparents old clothes ❤️Thanks for sharing 😊

  15. Suzanne says:

    I just made 5 of these!! What a creative idea- I haven’t seen this anywhere else. They are so cute, I just want to hang them where I usually hang my Christmas cards. Do I have to give them away 😝
    But seriously , do you recommend a specific marker to write on them?
    Thanks!

  16. Sue says:

    I took a fabric postcard to the post office today and I was told that they require a non-machinable stamp ($1.15). Have you found this to be true or does my post office not know what they’re talking about (which wouldn’t surprise me).

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