I’ve always loved handwritten menus set out on display. I am personally not a huge fan of my own handwriting and because I typically don’t decide on a menu until the week of a party, I knew I wouldn’t have enough time to have one made for me by a calligrapher, so I thought one was out of the question for our holiday party…until a genius idea hit me.  After posting last week’s Avery DIY for the gift tags, I was putting away all the great products they had sent me and I was looking at the fabric transfers and thought waiiiiiit a minute – I can make one of those pretty menus myself!  It ended up being so easy and only took about 30 minutes.  Follow along to see how it’s done.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

• Avery® Fabric Transfers
• Your menu, typed up and ready to print
• Scrap piece of fabric
• Iron
• Twig
• Hot glue or fabric glue
• 1 piece of string
• Misc greenery for decor

DIRECTIONS:

Put together your menu on the computer.  I wanted to achieve the handwritten look, so I went with a pretty script font.  Once you’ve finalized and edited your menu, flip text to reverse it for the print. Load one of your Avery® fabric transfer sheets into your printer and print.

Place a pillowcase or tablecloth down on a surface suitable for ironing. Set iron to highest setting. Place fabric piece down on to the surface and iron it to get any wrinkles out. Place your transferred image face down onto your fabric. Applying pressure with both hands, iron the transfer, making slow 20 second passes from left to right and then top to bottom.  For a half page image, only 90 seconds of ironing is needed.  Note: Make sure to follow along with the specific instructions located inside your fabric transfer package, as some of the transfers have different ironing times.

After ironing, allow the transfer and fabric to cool for 2 minutes.  Once cooled, peel the backing off, starting at one corner of the transfer.

I wanted a bit of a rough edge around my menu, so I gently ripped the fabric along the borders to achieve the gently frayed look.  You can just use scissors to cut yours if you prefer a cleaner edge.  To hang, use a twig and some string. Fold the top edge of menu over a twig, use hot glue to position menu in place, then tie a piece of string to the twig to create a hanger. Use hot glue to finish off the menu with some additional holiday greenery.