Stitched wedding invites

As I mentioned before, I thought it'd be nice to share the wedding invitations I made a couple of years ago.

One day when I was browsing through a bridal magazine, I saw an advertisement for custom invitations with a stitched border. I can't remember the exact company, but they looked something like this:

Chic by Weddding Tulle

I made a few samples and decided I liked the look. Not knowing I might want to blog about it in the future, I didn't take pictures during the process, so this is not a tutorial. But the pictures of the finished product are self-explanatory I think.

First I drafted the text in MS Word so that I could fit two invitations onto an 8.5" x 11" piece of paper.

Then I visited a local rubber stamp/card making shop for paper supplies. I took the cardstock to Kinkos and had the invitation (and RSVP cards) printed there. I wanted dark brown ink so these were color copies.

After cutting everything to the right size (you'll want to spring for a paper cutter if you don't already have one), I used a gluestick to lightly adhere (baste) the invitation to the backing, a chocolate brown cardstock.

Next I headed for the sewing room. Any sewing machine can sew paper, and it's actually pretty fun!


Thread: I used a Gutermann 100% silk thread, you probably want to experiment to see what looks best for your project. I threaded all tails to the reverse side of the invitation and tied them off.

Needle: No sense in wasting brand new sewing machine needles - save your old needles that you would usually just discard, they are perfect for a project like this.

Paper sewing tips: Slow and easy does it. There's no fixing mistakes when it comes to sewing paper, the needle holes are permanent, so it would be wise to print a few extra invitations just in case! Ask me how I know. Since I was trying to be very precise as to where the corners turned, I marked those points lightly with a pencil; when my needle got to that point, I stopped in the "needle down" position, lifted the presser foot to turn the paper 90 degrees, then put the presser foot down and resumed stitching.


This invitation worked well with the style of my wedding, as it was a somewhat casual, outdoor garden affair. A more formal wedding may need a more formal invitation to indicate that tone to the guests. Another consideration is quantity - there were only 30 people at my wedding including me and the groom, so I don't think I made more than 20 invitations. If you've got a 100+ guest affair? Then you've got a lot of paper cutting ahead of you.


The RSVP cards have a dotted border printed on them that mimics the stitching on the invitation. The purple flower is from a rubber stamp.


The address stamp that I had printed was a major time saver. I hand wrote our address bordered by a few whimsical dots, and the stamp store was able to take this and turn it into a rubber stamp. I used this wherever a return address was needed and I still use it today. (Of course, I understand you can't see it because I covered over all personal info with the stars, but trust me, it's cute).

Assembly line preparations. Here I'm cutting the RSVP cards.

Stitching would be a great way to embellish other cards too. Every Christmas I say I'm going to make stitched cards but I never get around to it in time! There's always next year...