How to Embroider a Greeting Card

comments (11) March 15th, 2011     

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What you'll need:
Blank greeting card
Painter's tape
Straight pin
Embroidery floss
Embroidery needle
Scissors
Masking Tape
Glue stick
Decorative paper

I love embroidering on greeting cards, because the texture of the stitches has such impact. And it's not too hard to do! Here are some basic instructions.

Be sure to use a blank greeting card made of heavy, sturdy cardstock. You'll be handling this card a great deal as you stitch, so you need something that will withstand it without bending or tearing.


Next, you'll need a design to embroider. For stitching on paper, it's a good idea to stick with simpler designs that involve mostly outlines. Most Sublime Stitching embroidery templates are excellent for stitching on paper. Or, you can begin with a complex design and modify it. Here, I'm working with a vintage transfer design I picked up at a thrift store. It's a little too ornate for a greeting card, but we'll simplify it.

Tape the design to the front of the card using painter's tape, which won't mar the surface of the paper.

Reduce or enlarge your design on a photocopier, and then tape it to the front of the card with some blue painter's tape. (Notice that the card is opened out flat at this point.)

Place the card on a padded surface. Folded fabric, a cork trivet, or a sock all work well.

Next, put your card onto some kind of padded surface. You can use a cork trivet, or a folded towel, or even a sock. I'm using a piece of folded felt.

In order to embroider a design onto a greeting card, you need to pre-punch all the holes where your needle will go in and out of the paper. This takes a little thought and pre-planning, because you'll also need to know in advance what embroidery stitches you'll use. So let's take this design one part at a time:

To prepare for the backstitch, punch holes about 1/8" apart along the lines.

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