This is a tutorial for the temple envelope I'm teaching for our ward's Fabulous Friday. I'm starting the instructions from the point where the ladies will start at our activity, which means everything is cut and marked already. I'll post those instructions later if anyone wants them.
First we want to stick our ribbons down so they don't shift while we sew. Pinning can be tough with little ribbons, so I like to use a sewing tape that washes out. I wanted it narrower though, so you need to cut it into skinny pieces and then stick it to the back of the ribbon.
Place the ribbons where you want them on the triangular piece of fabric. There will be a button hole at the tip of the triangle and a hem on the long straight edge, so keep that in mind when placing the ribbons.
Sew the ribbons down. You want to be as close to the edge of the ribbon as possible without getting off the ribbon. Sew both edges of each ribbon.
Once you've sewn the ribbons down, trim them so they're even with the fabric edges.
Next you want to press your hems. You need a hem on the end of the big piece of fabric. Fold over twice and press.
Do the same thing on the end of the triangle.
Sew down the hem of the big piece. On the triangle, only sew the middle part of the hem between the two lines. You're hemming the pocket. The rest will be sewn down later.
Now, don't freak out on me, but you're going to put the wrong sides of your two pieces together. Pin the triangle to the big piece with the RIGHT sides showing.
Flip the big piece over and turn up the hemmed edge until the hem is lined up with the triangle hem. They should meet but not overlap, and of course the hems are on opposite sides of the fabric.
Now sew all the way around with 1/4 inch seam allowance.
Trim of the tip of the triangle, press your seam allowances and turn everything wrong side out.
You'll notice as you try to turn things wrong side out that you have a problem with your seam allowance. Where the two hems meet, the seam allowance twists, so make a small snip through the seam allowance right where the hems meet up.
With everything wrong side out, press everything so it's nice and neat and then sew all the way around with a 5/8 inch seam allowance. You're creating a seam with no raw edges. I've seen it called a French seam, but my Grandma taught me something completely different as a French seam, so I don't really know what's what.
Once you've sewn around, you want to turn everything right side out again, but those pesky seam allowances are twisted again. Just make another little snip right between the hems. Once everything is right side out, press it all so it's nice and neat.
Where you have the hem of the big piece, you want to sew just a little bit in from the edge to catch the raw edge of that snip. I don't quite know how to explain it because I just fiddled with it until I had it how I wanted it.
Turn your triangle wrong side out again and make a triangular snip where the straight edge meets the angled edge. This just helps things lay flat. Also snip off the end of the triangle again. All this will be enclosed when you're done, so don't worry about those raw edges.
Now you can sew from the edge of the triangle over to the pocket lines on each side. Again, here's your chance to catch that bit of raw edge from that little snip in the seam allowance.
Now, sew down the lines for the pocket. This is a little place to keep the name slip in the temple.
Now put your buttonhole in. I did mine about an inch lower than the shortest ribbon, and I used my sewing machine's automatic button hole maker. If you don't have that on your machine, you have my sincerest sympathy. If you live near me, come use mine. :)
Now top stitch the lace on. You can use the lace to cover if you're not totally happy with where those two hems meet up, but I was actually able to get everything really nice there.
Once your lace is on, sew on your button and you're done!
