Sew your own fortune cookies

These sewn fabric fortune cookies make a fun addition to any dinner table – new year, birthday, or just a weekday meal. They also make a thoughtful present, for example holding a good luck message before an exam.

Usually the real cookies made of dough and contain message of luck and fortune, which often gives the person receiving the cookie a reason to laugh.

The nice thing about sewing fabric fortune cookies is that you can personalise the message yourself. As these fortune cookies are not made of dough but of fabric, the shelf life is almost infinite ;-).

To go with the sewn fabric fortune cookies, I have also designed a papercraft takeaway box that you can quickly make with the Brother ScanNCut cutting machine.

The box was designed so you can cut it out of a 30 x 30cm piece of photo cardboard, so the size of the biscuits has to match: the circles are 10cm in diameter.

For the fabric fortune cookies

Materials needed (per cookie)

• 12 x 24cm rectangle of cotton fabric, craft felt or jersey (or use two different 12 x 12cm pieces if you want your fabric fortune cookies to have different patterned sides) 
• 10 x 10cm piece of cardboard for the circle template and a compass (or you can cut it with your ScanNCut) 
• Sewing thread 
• Narrow strips of paper with messages on 

Equipment needed

• Sewing machine
• Super universal needle – size 90 or 100 
• Walking foot 
• Brother ScanNCut (optional), and a piece of scrap card
• Fabric marker or chalk 
• Scissors 
• Pinking shears (optional) 
• Erasable fabric marker pen or fabric chalk 
• Pins or clips 

How to: make sewn fabric fortune cookies 

Step 1

Create a circle template of 10cm diameter. You can do this with a pencil and compass or cut a smooth circle template with your Brother ScanNCut.

Step 2 

For each fabric fortune cookie, cut a 12 x 24cm rectangle of fabric (or two 12 x 12cm pieces). Fold the fabric in half, right sides up. Transfer the circle onto the fabric, using a fabric marker or chalk. 

Tip: if you have a ScanNCut Low Tack Mat and rotary blade you can also cut the 10 x 10cm circles from the ScanNCut’s built in templates. You need 2 x circles per fortune cookie.

Step 3

Pin or clip your two fabric fortune cookie circle pieces together, wrong side to wrong side, and stitch on the drawn circle line using a straight stitch.

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Pull down to fold open the sides of the sewn fabric fortune cookie (see diagram below). 

Step 7 

Finish shaping the biscuits. If necessary form a dent in the middle with your thumb.  

On the left is a finished biscuit from above, on the right from below. 

Fill the biscuits with messages written on narrow strips of paper. 

How to: make the ScanNCut papercraft takeaway box

Materials needed 

• 12 x 12”/30 x 30cm white cardboard for the box – 300gsm recommended, 250gsm as minimum 
• String for the handle 

Optional (decorating the box): 

• Stick on vinyl – 6 x 6cm per decoration 
• Transfer tape 

Equipment needed

• Brother ScanNCut DX machine,
• ScanNCut standard tack adhesive mat (CADXMATSTD12)
• Auto blade and holder 
• Long ruler – longer than 50cm to help with the folding of the box 
• Punch pliers
• Awl

Optional (decorating the box):

• Short ruler or a scraper or a credit card
• Weeding tools
  
  
  

Download the cutting files here

How to

Step 1

Download the cutting file for the papercraft takeaway box and transfer to your ScanNCut. Place the white cardboard onto a standard tack mat and cut. Remove from mat. 

Step 2 (optional)

Download the Kanji file and transfer to your ScanNCut. Adhere vinyl to the cutting mat and cut the pattern on half cut. Cut as many as you want to decorate your box. 

Weed the excess vinyl. Place transfer tape over the cut design, remove and adhere onto the white cardboard box as desired. 

Tip: add the decorations before you start folding the box. 

Step 3

Take the cut box part and fold along the fold lines as per the diagram below. Blue lines are mountain folds (ie upwards) and red are valley folds (ie downwards).

Step 4

Fold two sides of the triangle over each other and punch a hole in the middle with a punch tool. 

Step 5 

Punch a hole through the papercraft takeaway wall of the box with an awl (the punch is too small and would not reach). Repeat on the other side of the box.

Step 6 

Thread a string through the takeaway box holes. Tie a knot from the inside and if necessary glue the sides of the box shut with a little hot glue.

Step 7 

Fill the box with your sewn fabric fortune cookies and close.

What does fortune hold in store for you? 

I can’t wait to see what you make! Remember to tag in Brother on Instagram and Facebook, and myself too! You can also find Brother on Pinterest and YouTube for even more inspiration.