How to Make Pocket Folds for Wedding Invitations

I am finally finding the time to sit down and make this post. I designed my pocket fold invitations already, even though they are not going out until May. This way all we will have to worry about is printing them out, cutting them, and putting the invitations and inserts in the pocket folds. I will post separate posts on how I made the pocket folds and invitations and inserts, as well as any add ons and finishing touches I make to the final products.

This project was very fun and saved me a lot of money. I will list the items needed to do this, what I paid for them at Michaels, Amazon, etc, and what they would have cost had I bought them from a pocket fold website.

• 12" by 12" Card stock in Patch and Kraft for both the Invitation Mats and the Pocket folds. Approximately 120 sheets. On sale $0.35 per piece. Cost $45.48, and I still have more paper left. The cost at Cards and Pockets website $57.60 for 72 Pocket folds and $14.40 for 72 Invitation Mats. That's $72 + tax for a total of $76.32. My savings was $30.84. Now remember, I still have lots of paper left in Kraft for other things.

• Two packs of Card stock in White. Pack of 100 sheets 110 lb.  for the actual invitation and the inserts.  $14.00 after coupons. Now this comes in the regular 8.5" by 11" size. So these will all have to be cut to size. Price at Cards and Pockets for Pre-cut invitations and inserts. $15.00 for 75 invitations, and $56.82 for 4 packs of 75 inserts since I have 4 inserts. 2 of the inserts would have to be cut down to size to do the types of inserts I have. So not only is the amount so much more expensive, you would still have to cut them down to size. This brings this to a total of $76.16 including tax for the inserts and invitation paper. Savings $61.16

• Scott ATG gun. I purchased this off of Amazon because it was actually cheaper this way. This thing saved me time. Double sided tape would work just as good but would take much more time. Cost $17.73 This gun is pretty expensive at Michael's but it might actually be cheaper there if you use a 50 percent off coupon.

•  Extra double sided adhesive for the Scot ATG. I used two and a half full rolls just putting the pocket folds together and putting the mats in. I will probably use at least that or more to put the invitations in. Buy this at Michaels with a coupon for really cheap!

• Scissors

•  Rotary Cutter or Paper trimmer I bought the Reflections Rotary Cutter and Scorer. This thing cuts and scores your invitations. It is $17.99 with out a coupon regular price but often goes on sale for $7.00.

• Replacement blades for trimmer if using a rotary type cutter.

• If you are using a regular paper trimmer you will need a scoring board or something similar to score your pocket folds.

• Ruler to check measurements

Some of these items you may already have if you like to DIY. I am using them for other things so I am not including the gun, rotary trimmer, or ink in my final costs. Final cost is for paper only.

Pocket fold paper cost to DIY:  $60.48 not including envelopes or postage
Pocket folds, invitations, mats, inserts, etc. from Cards and Pockets.: $152.48 + shipping not including envelopes and postage

Total Savings:  $92.00 not including shipping for Cards and Pockets


Onto the fun part!
Before I started, I sat down and tried to figure out how I can make each pocket fold with a 12" by 12" piece of paper. I wanted our invitations to be 5" by 7". I looked at other various how to posts online and came across with my own measurements that worked best for me and came up with these measurements for cutting and scoring. Make sure to have your measurement list on hand at all times. I kept my list next to me the entire time so I would be less likely to make mistakes. Also, double check your measurements as you go. I made several invitations on my first few attempts before I realized that at some point that my cutter was 1/32 of an inch off after 4 inches. So, I had to add 1/32 of an inch onto each measurement the rest of the time. You may find little things like that along the way, that's why the ruler really comes in handy.

• Main pocket fold cut- 7" by 12"

•  Score the main pocket fold folder at 2.5" and then again at 7.5" to make the folds for the folder. Make sure you are switching to the score blade of your rotary trimmer. I ruined several pieces of paper at first by mistake by accidentally using the cutting blade.

• Use the back of the handle of your scissors to bend the pocket fold folder creases at the score mark. This will make for clean crisp folds. 

• Rectangle for the pocket fold- 5.5" by 3.5"

•  Score the pocket part of the pocket fold at 0.5" on both vertical sides and one horizontal side. This will make gussets for your fold to expand for inserts.

• Then cut the gussets where the scores meet and form an X to make a clean fold where the adhesive will go to prevent lumps once it is stuck to the folder. 

•  Again use the back of your scissor handle to bend the folds for the gussets. It is very important these are nice crisp bends because it will make your invitation appear lumpy if they aren't tight bends. As well as potentially pull the adhesive loose.

•  Invitation Mat cut- 4.75" by 6.75". No scoring will be done to this.

You are now ready to put the pocket fold and invitation mat into the folder. I used a Scott ATG to put these invitations together. You can use double sided tape as well. If you don't know how to use one of these there are plenty of videos out there that show you. It is pretty easy to use once you get the hang of it.

• Start by using your Scot ATG to put adhesive on the gussets of your pocket. My adhesive is 1/4 inch so I put two rows of  adhesive on each gusset making sure to cover them so they don't pull loose. 

•  Then line the corners of your pocket up with the outer bottom right corner of your folder. I start there because then if my pocket just so happened to be slightly too large or small it will be much less noticeable if that end is on the inside. Also, this makes it so if you make a mistake and put it on crooked you can pull it back off, add more adhesive and try again. I had to do that in the above photo because Justin was distracting me and making me laugh while he was taking these pictures.

•  Make sure to press down on all of the edges of the pocket. This makes sure the adhesive sets.

• Now you are ready to insert the mat into the folder. I made the measurements for the mat 4.75" by 6.75" because the invitation folder back where this is being put is 5" by 7". So there should be a 0.25" area of green around the outside. My rotary cutter was dropped in the process of making these so it was knocked off of balance which made some of my cuts crooked towards the end. So some of my invites might be slightly off.  If I could do it again I would spend the extra money on a better paper trimmer and got a Scoring Board to do the scoring.  

• Next, put the adhesive along the edges of the invitation mat in a similar way to the way you did the pocket. Only you will only have to do one pass in each section since there is no bend to be pulling against the adhesive. I put the adhesive on the four corners at about two inches per section and then about an inch in the middle between each corner. 

• Then carefully line up the invitation mat and insert it into the folder. Again you can start with top or bottom and make sure the corners and the top or bottom have about 0.25" inch gaps on each side. If each side is even and your measurements are right, the bottom should be right on or very close when you push all the way down on the mat. 

Your pocket folds are done and ready for your invitations and inserts. I will be making another post on how I made my invitations and inserts, with measurements soon! As always, feel free to ask any questions you may have. Good luck with your projects!