Are you looking for original home decoration solutions? Letters are an unusual decoration of the interior. They are made from different materials: wood, cardboard, papier-mâché, gypsum and salt dough. There are flat and three-dimensional models. Having studied our master class, you will learn how to sew volumetric letters made of fabric with your own hands.
What can they be used for?
- Letters can be put on a shelf, hung on the wall, even put on the floor, if their size allows. Individual characters and whole words are used, for example, “love”, “family”, “children”, “joy”, “happiness”, as well as names.
- Decor element for decorating weddings. For example, photos where the newlyweds hold together the word “LOVE” or “Love” look very cute and romantic.
- Like pillows. If you make big soft letters made of cotton for everyone, there will be a useful surprise for your husband, child, mother, and mother in law. Fabric letters will keep your hands warm and bring good luck to the wearer.
- As a developmental toy for the youngest children. Toddlers like toys that are nice to hold in their pens and carry with them. Just sew the letters of the name, and then the whole alphabet. The child will grow up and with pleasure will add syllables and whole words.
Did you like the idea? Then let's get to work and make letters from fabric. The master class consists of several steps.
Materials
You will need thick cardboard to make a template.
Attention, an important point: find sharp large scissors for cutting fabric. Otherwise, you will not be able to cut the material, you will quickly get tired and quit work.
How to choose fabric for soft letters?
You can take any material to your taste and imagination. It all depends on the purpose of the letter:
- Cotton, linen, knitwear are suitable for a children's toy, it is easily erased and does not lose shape if it is constantly wrinkled. Experienced craftswomen recommend using American cotton. Dense flannel fabric, knitwear looks good.
- For interior letters, they take a dense fabric: drape, velveteen, felt, plush, velor.
- If the letters are small, you can use rags of different material that any craftswoman has.
Perhaps we list the general requirements for the material. Take a plain fabric or with a fine pattern. Although with a large pattern, an interesting design can be obtained. Do not use translucent material - everything is visible when stuffing the toy.
The fabric must have a tight weave to make the pillow neat. In addition, do not pick up material that rolls heavily on slices. Too smooth fabric will not work either. If you are new to such a thing, it will slip in your hands and prevent you from gently stitching.
And the last: if the fabric is very soft, stretches strongly (for example, knitwear), you need a lining of dense fabric (non-woven fabric). It is glued with a hot iron to the part.
We are a little distracted by theory, and now let's move on to practice.
What else will be needed additionally to sew the letters from the fabric with your own hands?
- Marker for making templates. You can take any bright felt-tip pen or pen.
- Pins for stabbing fabric.
- Centimeter.
- Soft pencil, remnant or special chalk for cutting.
How to choose stuff for stuffing?
Usually, different materials are used for soft decorative items. If you sew a children's toy or a letter pillow for sleeping, the choice of filler is very important.
Fillers come in two types: natural and artificial. Let's start with natural stuffing:
- Vata - not suitable for toy filler. Firstly, washing with such a filler is impossible. Vata gets wet, and after drying it loses its shape and hardens. Mold can settle in the wool if the toy enters a humid environment.
- Wool is a good filler, soft and light. Sold in stores, the toy can be washed at low temperatures (hand wash). But he has one big minus: if your child is allergic to wool (or an adult member of the family), then the toy will become hazardous to health.
- Herbs - filler has a therapeutic effect: soothing, relieves headache. Properly selected collection will solve the problem of insomnia, relieve excessive excitability and tearfulness in the baby. Letters made of fabric with a pad of grass have a pleasant aroma. Cons: for herbs, you need to sew a separate bag of dense fabric and only then stuff the product with them. Do not wash the product.
- Cereals - peas, buckwheat, beans, seeds, etc. - develop fine motor skills in babies. The product must not be washed. Before use, the filler must be calcined in the oven so that the bug does not start. Before stuffing, the cereal is placed in a bag of cotton fabric.
Synthetic fillers:
- Foam rubber - is sold in hardware stores. Lightweight, gives the toy the necessary stiffness and stability. It is good to make large letters with it to decorate the interior. Can be washed.
- The synthetic winterizer is a modern lightweight material, voluminous, holds its shape well. Most popular among craftswomen. Safe for babies.
- Hollofiber is a soft synthetic material in the form of balls. Used to make pillows. Hypoallergenic, withstands even high temperatures.
- Sintepuh is a kind of sintepon, only softer and lighter. Also hypoallergenic and well erased. It fills the entire part well, leaves no empty spaces.
Are you already asking a question about how to sew letters from fabric? Wait, you still need to prepare some tools and materials.
Additional materials and tools
A few more things that will help you quickly and beautifully make volume letters:
- Clerical knife - to cut out the internal holes in the letters. You can do without it if the scissors are sharp enough.
- Threads in fabric color.
- Needles for hand sewing. You can sew on a sewing machine, but small letters can be easily sewn with your hands.
In our master class, we show the option with hand sewing.
Prepare your workplace, lay out all the materials and tools, set up good lighting - and forward, let's start creating. How to make letters from fabric? We will act in separate steps.
So, the first step is making a template
You do not know where to get the templates? Draw by yourself. In the end, all you need to do is know the alphabet. Here is an example of the letter "H".
You can immediately print the letter on the printer. If you do not have a printer, do not worry. The letter can be redrawn directly from the computer screen. Those who draw well can easily draw a letter on cardboard.
If you want to change the size of the letter, this is easy to do in Word. Select a picture and right-click. In the context menu, select “Image Format”, and then “Size”.
How does it further advise to make letters from fabric master class? We translate the letter to cardboard and cut it out. Such blanks turn out here.
To make three-dimensional letters from fabric, templates will need good quality: the letters should be large, without small details. Otherwise, it will be difficult to sew and stuff parts with filler.
The second step - translate the letters on the fabric
The fabric needs to be prepared: iron and fold face inward. We lay out the letters and circle with a pencil, leaving an allowance of 0.8-1 cm. It is necessary to pay attention that there is no need to leave an allowance in the holes of the letters. In our case, there are no internal holes.
You can translate patterns for letters with a pencil, pen, special marker. It will disappear without a trace from the fabric when you open the details. If the material is dark, use a cutting chalk or just a small piece of soap. Soap is also well washed and washed off the fabric during the first wash.
Cut out the letters. The holes can be carefully cut with small sharp scissors.
The third step - we cut out the side parts
The pattern of letters from the fabric consists of three parts. Our letters should be voluminous, so we need side parts.
We take blanks from the fabric and measure with a ruler all sides of the letter.
The sum of all the lengths of the sides is equal to the perimeter. Do not forget to measure the internal holes too. Patterns of volume letters from fabric are made separately for each letter.
One important point: if you are sewing on a typewriter, when cutting, be sure to consider the direction of the shared thread. Otherwise, the fabric will be skewed, and the letter will turn out ugly.
For example, we got 68 cm. We cut out a strip of fabric about 3 - 3.5 cm wide and 68 cm long. From the fabric, a pattern of volume letters from the fabric is ready.
The fourth step - we sew the side part to the main part
At this stage of manufacturing the letter, your patience and accuracy are important. We take one main part of the letter and sew the side strip to it. Take your time, carefully sew a strip around the entire outline of the letter. Then sheathe the inner holes, observing all the rules. It is necessary to pay attention to the corners: be sure to make a few extra stitches so that holes do not remain accidentally.
Here is the result.
Fifth step - sew the second main part
Now, sew the second part from the letter to the side part along the contour. This is what we have now.
Do not tighten the stitches too much so that the letter does not get crooked. The last stitch needs to be fixed so that the threads do not accidentally open. We turn the blank of our letter on the front side. If the toy is difficult to twist, you can use the blunt end of the scissors or a spoon.
Sixth step - fill our letter with filler
Well done, you did a good job. The letter is almost ready. It remains to fill it with filler and gently sew it up. Since it is difficult to fill a letter with your hands with stuffing, you can use improvised items, such as a spoon.
You can congratulate you, now you can easily sew letters from fabric with your own hands.
Now let's have some fun.
Who invented the use of letters in the interior?
Do you know where fashion came to decorate the interior with letters and words? We will tell you.
More than half a century ago, in the West, artists began to get involved in a fashionable direction in art called pop art. Artists in their works used unusually designed words, letters, slogans to better convey the meaning of the picture. The genre of comics was actively used.
The most famous artists of the direction: Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol. Gradually, the hobby was liked by designers and sculptors.
Robert Indiana created an entire sculpture from the words "LOVE". The monument stands in New York and attracts crowds of tourists.
Today, letters can be seen on wallpaper, curtains, carpets and even furniture.
Ingo Mauer, a lighting design specialist, created a chandelier decorated with notes written in uneven handwriting. It looks unusual and very romantic.
In Holland, designers came up with furniture in the form of letters. It is in great demand, especially for the arrangement of children's rooms. Volumetric fabric letters are made in the form of pillows, jewelry.
You can use inscriptions and letters for decoration in almost any style. Of course, in the first place, the letters are relevant in the children's room. They help the early development of the child.
I must say that adults also like letters in the interior. If the room is decorated in a minimalist style, the inscription will be a bright detail in the room and enliven the interior.
Our workshop is over. I hope you found this article helpful. Maybe you already sewed a cool thing and felt like a real craftswoman. If you do not succeed - do not worry, try again. Over time, you will develop the necessary skills and become a real professional. And, perhaps, invent your own master class on how to sew letters from fabric.