How to Make Seasonal Holders for Cards, Photos and More
One quick and easy way to make the holders is to purchase fabric with the appropriate holiday design. During each season fabric stores carry all types and colors of fabrics designed with bunnies, baskets, Christmas trees, turkeys, flags and other images. The image doesn’t necessarily have to be seasonal, either. It can be fabric imprinted with tepees, giant balloons, teddy bears, or other designs.
You’ll only need a small piece of fabric – a half-yard to a yard – depending upon how large you want the holder to be when finished. Make sure you have at least one complete image on the cloth before cutting. You’ll also need a piece of white or solid-color fabric, the size of the image you’ve decided to make. This piece of fabric will be the backing for the card holder. Suitable fabrics are cotton, linen and other lightweights. Purchase a small bag of pillow stuffing, cotton, or use a piece of eighth-inch foam to use for stuffing the card holder and giving it depth. Eliminate the stuffing, if you want, and use fabric remnants, towels or blanket remnants to stuff.
Lay the plain and printed fabric on a table with right sides together. Make sure you can see the shape well because it is your pattern. Follow the image perimeter, cutting about a half-inch away from the actual image, until you have cut out the entire image. If you’re using a dark color for the back it could be difficult to see the image print. Cut the image print out first then use it as a pattern to cut out the dark fabric.
Stitch the two pieces together, putting in a small tab for hanging, and leaving a five-inch place, at the bottom, for stuffing. Turn and press. Stuff, but not very full. When finished stuffing the form should be flat-looking and about an eighth-inch thick, all over. You can use extra stuffing, on certain images, in particular places, to make it look fuller. For example, if you’re making a Santa card holder, use a little extra stuffing in the beard area or mittens, to make them look fuller.
One way to make a holder out of any image is to make pockets from the rest of the fabric, after the actual holder has been made. You can also use coordinating material such as Easter egg fabric on an Easter bunny card holder. Stitch the pockets to the holder to allow for cards and photos. The pockets can be made according to the shape of the holder. For instance, if the image is a tepee you can make one large pocket towards the bottom, a smaller pocket in the center, and an even smaller one towards the top. For a tepee holder you can also use tiny craft clothes pins to hold the cards. Simply glue three clothes pins at the very top of the tepee then more clothes pins, in a native pattern around the tepee front, to hold cards, jewelry, or photos.
The clothes pins are handy for other designs, too. Glue the tiniest of clothes pins on the back of Santa’s mittens, then around his belt. Glue them to the back of an Easter bunny’s paws and ears, then make a large pocket for the front of the bunny to hold more cards. Paint the clothes pins green or red then glue them all over a Christmas tree card holder.
If the image you’re doing is a person or animal you can use the clothes pins on the inside of the card holder, where they’re not seen. Place them close to the hands, for instance, and stitch then stuff the holder. When time to display a card simply press down on the clothes pin and push the card into the clothes pin. The “mitten” portion of the fabric will also go into the clothes pin, making it appear that the person or animal is holding the card.
Instead of pockets you can use elastic pieces to hold cards and other items. Rather than stuffing the holder with foam or cotton use a cardboard piece, cut to the shape of the image. The cardboard should be relatively thick so that it doesn’t bend easily. Stitch lengths of quarter-inch elastic onto the front. The elastic pieces can stretch between any two places on the front of the hanger. The best way to do this is to lay the elastic strips onto the front piece of the holder. If the elastic is quite long put a few stitches at a place or two on the elastic piece, to make sections. A 12″ piece of elastic, for example, can be stitched to make 2 – 6″ sections. While stitching the back piece on, catch the elastic with the needle and thread, on each end. Turn right-side out and insert cardboard. Stitch shut. To place cards on the holder simply slip the card between the elastic strip and the fabric.
You can even make holders that can display coins and other things. Cut a shape of the U.S. and make tiny plastic pockets for holding coins from each state. You can purchase the clear plastic for the pockets at a home improvement or craft store. This same method can be done for shot glasses, toothpick holders and other collectibles from The States. For a spoon collection make tabs instead of pockets, and sew 50 of them onto the map, in appropriate areas.
Cut any image and sew clear, plastic pockets in various spots on the design. Slip photos into the clear pockets for a unique photo display. Do something similar to display merit badges, patches, newspaper clippings, party pictures, or other small objects.
