This is one of those projects I did just to see if I could.  I was jumping around like a little kid when I got done and the thing actually WORKED! 

When I was a kid, I think we called these Fortune Tellers.  I’ve since heard them called Cootie Catchers, but I have no idea what that even means. 

You can print the PDF here onto printable computer fabric.  Or, if you’re me, you can cut a piece of freezer paper to 8 1/2″ by 11″, iron it onto the back of a piece of white cotton fabric, cut the fabric to size and feed that through the printer.  DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK.  I can’t guarantee the safety of your printer, but it worked for me.

Let the ink dry for a minute, then cut out the square along the outside gray lines.  Peel off the backing paper.

You’ll need a layer of heavy interfacing, two layers of Wonder Under and a layer of contrast fabric, all cut to the same size square.

Iron one piece of Wonder Under to the back of the printed square and the other onto the back of the contrast fabric.  Remove paper backing.  Layer pieces together:   contrast fabric (wrong side up), interfacing, printed square (right side up).

Iron on both sides to secure all layers.  Trim the edges to match the printed square.

Straight stitch along all the gray lines.

Use a short, narrow zigzag stitch all around the outside edge. I intentionally didn’t make the stitches too dense so it wouldn’t interfere with folding later.

From here, it’s folded just like a paper fortune teller.  For you newbies who’ve never wondered what the future has in store for you, it goes like this:

Lay print side down.  Fold corners into the middle.  Press.

Flip it over.  Fold  the corners in again. Press.

Fold in half.  Press.  Unfold.  Fold in half the other direction.  Press.  Unfold.

Slide index fingers and thumbs into corners and bring together as shown.

If you’re confused about what to do with it at this point, any girl on the street can show you.  Choose a color and spell it out, opening back and forth once for each letter.  Choose a number, open and close that many times.  Choose another number and open it up to read your fortune below that number.

It can also be flattened to fit in an envelope.

I think these would be great favors for a birthday party.  You could sew some strands of ribbon from the corners to girlie it up.  

Ooh, or a wedding…one of these in the middle of each table, maybe the fortunes blank with a fine tip Sharpie for guests to add their own advice. 

 I can post this one without the “Congratulations Graduate” in the middle and without the fortunes so you can Sharpie in your own. I can also leave off the puzzle pieces and you could applique colored fabric in the corners before assembling the layers or do a little fabric painting – just ask in a comment.  This might also be a good place to try out that iron-on crayon technique from the  Wonder Woman t-shirt.

This one is going to my son, who’s graduating from middle school, as a “card” to go with his gift.  Maybe it will advise him on how to make it through high school.

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Here is a PDF of a very generic version.  It has the lines and numbers, but no fortunes, colors or writing in the center.  Below is also as a jpg, so if you’re tricky with photo editing software you can add what you’d like before you print it.