Are you looking for something unique for the lettering and just not finding it? Here is a way to make your own. In this way it can be any size, color and font that you choose.
Materials Needed:
- Background fabric (1/8th of a yard or less)
- Cardboard (the thickness of a cereal box)
- Hot glue gun and glue sticks
- Embroidery needle
- Embroidery floss
- Scissors
- Paper
- Pencil
- Carbon paper
- Batting scraps (optional)
You can design your lettering by hand or go on the computer and format the lettering with your tools. Either way will yield great results. One of the best things about doing the lettering yourself is the flourish you can add to the lettering to personalize it. Add a vine with small flowers weaving in and out of the letters. If the lettering is for a baby page add embroidered ribbons or baby rattles. You can add small icons for any event (i.e. wedding, graduation, baptism).
Once your design is ready you will need to transfer the design onto the fabric. Do not try to do a direct transfer. You will need at least an inch between letters. Each individual letter will be made separately. Your vines and decorations will still work; they will just extend from letter to letter. In making your first letter if you can, copy it freehand to the fabric.
If you cannot copy it freehand use carbon paper. Place a sheet of carbon paper carbon side down on the fabric. Take care not to rest your hand on the fabric as carbon will smudge off in the wrong places. Place your formatted letter over top of the carbon paper and trace with your pencil making sure not to shift the project while you are tracing. If you are more comfortable you can tape the whole down to the table first to help avoid movement.
Remove the paper and carbon paper. Embroider the letter in the style and color of your choice. Once done sewing, cut the letter out of the fabric, allowing an extra inch to the height and an extra inch to the width. If you want your letter one inch by two inches you will cut out the letter fabric two inches by three inches. Cut a piece of cardboard the size you want the letter to end up. For this example our cardboard would be one inch by two inches.
Lay the embroidered fabric right side down on your working surface. If you choose to add the extra padding, lay a piece of scrap batting over the fabric and trim it to be a half inch smaller than your fabric in height and width. That would make our batting one and a half inches by two and a half inches. Center the batting. If your are not batting than skip that step.
Lay the cardboard in the center. Cut a square off of each corner that begins at the outer most point and goes to the corner of the cardboard to remove the excess fabric from the corner. Hot glue the fabric to the cardboard by folding it up and over. Work your way around the letter until it all of the fabric has been glued. Cut away any excess fabric.
Your first letter is done. Repeat for each letter. Lay them out and adhere them to your page with acid free scrapbooking adhesive. Try different styles and sizes.
