It’s getting close to Valentine’s Day and although I don’t usually focus much on doing something for valentines day, I do think it’s a good opportunity to practise some random acts of kindness.

This year I’ve decided to couple the ideas of ‘paying it forward’ and ‘random acts of kindness’ into one neat idea.

below you will find my tutorial for making Random Acts of Kindness felt envelopes. These envelopes can be received by someone and then renamed to be given to someone new! This is because the felt envelope had a plastic vinyl pocket on the front. I love sewing with plastic vinyl!

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I’m hoping this will encourage others to fill the envelopes with a random act of kindness and then pay it forward to someone else by sending the felt envelope on with a new random act of kindness.

Ok, let’s get into it.

Materials Needed to Sew a Random Act of Kindness Felt Envelope

• Acrylic felt
• Coordinating fabric
• Coordinating thread
• Plastic vinyl
• red and white acrylic felt (scraps would be perfect)
• Fusible webbing also known as Heat n Bond
• Velcro

Tools Needed to Sew a RAOK Felt Envelope

• Sewing machine (preferably with a walking foot attached)
• Fabric cutting tools – scissors and ruler or rotary cutter, ruler and cutting mat
• Pinking shears (optional but it makes the edges look very cool)
• Iron
• Ironing board or wool pressing mat
• Teflon pressing sheet (optional)

Watch the Video Tutorial Below…

Video tutorial coming soon!

You might like this Valentine’s Day sewing project! A Valentine’s Day Emoji

Step by Step Instructions for How to Sew a RAOK Felt Envelope

Step 1

Cut the felt and coordinating fabric to size. For the tutorial I’ve gone with 7″ x 9 1/2″ but you can make them whatever size you like really.

Step 2

Iron fusible webbing or HeatnBond onto the wrong side of you co-ordination fabric. When the backing paper is removed it will leave a layer of fusible webbing, which will allow you to iron the fabric and the felt together.

Lay the felt on top of the coordinating fabric and press with the iron to stick the two pieces together.

TIP: Use a Teflon pressing sheet to protect your ironing surface (I’m using a wool pressing mat here. Absolutely love it!) and your iron from the fusible webbing. You don’t want that stuff stuck on your iron and you don’t want it stuck onto your ironing board either! Imagine your iron being unable to glide over fabric nicely. That’s what happens and then you have to clean the iron.

Step 3

You will need the red and white scraps of fabric to create the stamp. Iron some fusible webbing onto one side of the felt.

Draw a small heart onto the webbing attached to the red piece of felt.

Cut out the heart.

Cut out a rectangular piece of white felt to create the back of the stamp. I use my pinking shears to give that authentic zigzag look. Be sure to keep the backing paper attached to the white felt for now.

Remove the backing paper from the red heart and iron it onto the white felt. Set this aside for now.

Step 4

Using a 5/8″ seam allowance, sew along one short edge of the envelope fabric and felt. Use the pinking shears to remove any excess fabric and to finish this edge off nicely.

Step 5

Finger press where you would like the folds to be for the envelope.

Press with the iron once you are happy with the fold placement.

The fabric should now look a little something like the photo below when it is unfolded.

Step 6

Remove the backing paper from the stamp felt and position into place in the top right of the middle ‘third’. Iron into place when you are happy with the position. I don’t tend to sew the stamp on as the fusible webbing is strong enough to hold this in place as it is decorative.

Step 7

Position the vinyl in place and sew three of the edges. You’ll want to keep the top open so different names can be added to the pocket. I highly recommend using a walking foot when sewing with plastic vinyl, as a walking foot has feed dogs. This will help guide the plastic vinyl through the sewing machine nicely.

Step 8

Cut the envelope flap into a triangular shape. You can always leave this as is as well.

Step 9

Next, you’ll need to sew on the velcro.

TIP: I iron on a small piece of fusible webbing onto the back on the velcro pieces. I then iron these pieces into place before sewing. This keeps your velcro from slipping while you are sewing it. It likes to do that!

Position one side of the velcro into place and press with the iron to hold there while you are sewing.

Work out where the other piece will need to be place and press with the iron.

Sew the velcro in place.

This is what you should now have on you felt envelope before sewing the edges together.

Step 10

Fold the back of the envelope up to create a ‘pocket’.

Sew the edges leaving a 5/8″ seam allowance around the side edges and the top flap part.

This is what it should look like once sewn.

Step 11

Use the pinking shears to finish off the sewn edges.

And….you are ready to write a random act of kindness for someone special!

I hope you gained some great tips and are confident to go off a whole stack of these felt envelopes now.

Be sure to visit back soon for a new round-up of Valentine’s goodies to sew!

Until next time…..happy sewing,

Domenica