Fabric Letters - Do it yourself!

I saw these cardboard letters at PaperSource when I found out I was pregnant and thought it would be fun to make my own fabric letters for the baby once I knew the sex and the name. I finally finished them this weekend. I’m not sure if I made these the best way, but it worked. It was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be and I was really glad she only has five letters in her name.

Here’s what I did if you want to try it on your own and if you know of an easier way – let me know. I don’t think I’m going to do this again for a while!

Supplies:

• Staple gun with staples
• Poster board
• Scotch tape
• Batting
• Pencil
• Super Glue
• Glue stick
• Cardboard letters
• Fabrics of your choice
• Fabric scissors
• Regular scissors

1) Trace the letters onto poster board and cut them out.

2) Place fabric to go around the edges of your letter and staple the fabric to the front and backs of the letter (you will cover these staples with the poster board letter and the other side will be the back).

3) Trace the letters onto batting (make sure it’s facing the right direction – the batting will go on top of the poster board cutout) and cut it out using fabric scissors. Attach the batting to the poster board letter with a glue stick.

4) Place the poster board and batting letter onto the fabric you want to show on top of the letter and cut around and fold it onto the back. I used scotch tape to attach the fabric. (It’s kind of like you’re gift wrapping the letter almost). I found that cutting slits to fold down around the curved parts worked best.

5) Super glue your fabric, batting and poster board letter on top of the cardboard letter than has the fabric covered on the sides.

I punched a hold in the back of the cardboard and hung them up with nails.

Sounds easy, right? That’s what I had thought. Wrapping the fabric around the sides was definitely the hardest part for me and my hands were really sore from the staple gun. I must have used a hundred staples!

You can also use these letters for other things. I bought some a year ago from Anthropologie and hung the word “EAT” in my kitchen and love it. You could also do “SEW” for a sewing room or “TEA” if you really like tea. I wanted a 3-letter word to keep the cost down and if you’re making them, I recommend keeping your word short or you’ll hate yourself halfway through the process.

Happy Letter Making!