Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Sewing envelopes: extra postage?

A dear friend of mine, a talented artist and seamstress, wants to sew the envelopes for her wedding invitations. She asked me about postage and special procedures for that, and since I don't sew a stitch, it's nothing I've ever considered.

I've received a variety of lovely sewn envelopes, in a variety of different styles, but I've not sent any.

Those of you that sew, or that are far more knowledgeable about this sort of postal practice than I - will that require extra postage? I'm inclined to say, better safe than sorry and throw on that 20-cent non-machinable extra, because I'm worried about the threads catching in the sorting machines. But my beloved suggested taping over the stitches, or sealing them in some way, to make them less inclined to be problematic.

Has anyone done this? I'd love any insights or suggestions, particularly those with experience behind them. As these are to be wedding invitations, there will be a fair number of them, and of course we want to make sure they are delivered successfully!

Thanks in advance for any thoughts/ideas.

CLARIFICATION: The idea is to sew stitches on paper, not fabric. The main component of the envelopes would still be thick paper, just sewn instead of glued.