This hand-assembled kit is the sequel to our Art of the Hand-folded Envelope kit (which debuted in 2020). The new kit is dramatically expanded, with detailed instructions and illustrations for making two additional styles of envelope: a true center seam open-end (which you can also adapt to make a gorgeous flat bag) and a “backless” two-piece construction. The hand-out begins with the instructions from the original kit for hand-folding a basic 5-ish x 7-ish envelope without a template.

Back to the backless envelope: It isn’t really backless, but you will make the envelope front from a magazine page, wrapping paper, or other decorative sheet from your own reserves, and you will cut the back from a piece of cover stock. This combo-construction is popular in Europe, with white or brown kraft fronts wrapping around a chipboard back. Sadly, we don’t have these in the U.S.   

The hand-out provides fifteen pages full of step-by-step instructions, with numerous whimsical illustrations & diagrams by Janet Bouldin.

8 ½ x 11 Materials:

10 sheets 80# Text (Cat Bennett’s personal favourite), for folding practice

8 sheets 100% cotton Hahnemühle Bugra (natural white, mouldmade), for making open-end or announcement-style envelopes

5 sheets Cambridge Imprint Papers, in 5 different patterns, for envelope folding (including “inside out”) or lining

8 sheets cover stock for cutting notecards and envelope backs, 2 each of French Paper: brickish red, blue butcher, krafty orange & deepest blue 

Postage! A glassine full of enough vintage stamps (29¢ and below) to post 5 letters

Labels! Three half sheets of BZS’s peccably Perfed labels (30 labels in all). Perfect with perforated perimeters, for all addressing media

All of the above comes packaged in a 9 x 12 booklet envelope with your very own name hand-lettered on a Cambridge Imprint large label, and a quartet of fruit stamps: 1¢ apple, 2¢ lemon, 3¢ strawberry and 4¢ blueberry.

The kit is available with or without this set of tools: bonefolder, Xacto-knife, Italian aromatic glue-stick, triangle ruler, Japanese paper covered pencil. (You can also buy some tools separately.)

Wrapped in our complimentary signature style: white tissue, French embroidery thread & our favourite washi tape of the day.