Summer Garden Birthday Party - Fabric Invitations

So I'm in the planning phase of my daughter, Matilda Jane's, 1st birthday party.  Rather than doing one gigantic blog post after the party, I thought I would just share things with you as I go.  Luckily I got her invitations in the mail last week, so I can check that "to do" off of my list! 

The theme for Matilda's birthday is a Summer Garden Party and is inspired by the fabric I used to make her birthday outfit.  So I've already shared her birthday dress with you.......remember this.........

I really feel like the invitations set the tone for the party before it even starts.  For my daughter, Savannah's 2nd birthday the invitations were more casual and fun since it was a huge Elmo Dance Party.  But for Matilda's birthday we are doing something more intimate outside in The Cottage Garden (our yard), so I wanted a little more class and elegance with the invitations.  I am a HUGE fan of sewing on paper - I think it is so different and unique and super-easy to do!

I took blank, cream colored, folded note cards and used the two fabrics from her birthday dress for the invites.  I used the floral fabric on the front and the polka dot on the interior.

I applied single-sided fusible interfacing to the back-sides of both fabrics.  I find this helps the fabric to lie very flat when stitching it to paper.  I placed a little piece of double-sided tape to the fabric to hold it in place while sewing.

I used a zig-zag stitch in coordinating blue thread to sew the two fabrics to the card.

For the inside portion of the card, I simply printed the party information onto paper and cut it to size.  I used a straight-stitch to attach the paper to the card (again, I used a little tape to hold it in place).

I used InDesign software to layer the digital images of the fabrics and place the text on top.  I'm sure you could use something like photoshop or maybe even Word to achieve the same effect.

Don't you just love with something turns out how you envisioned it?  I love these little invitations - they are so sweet - just like my sweet Matilda Jane!

Cottage Mama's Note:  The fabric I used is from designer Heather Bailey's, "Nicey Jane" fabric line.