Weekend Project: Fabric Letters

I'm not going to pretend that I'm some "pro crafter." There are some pretty fantastic blogs already out there for that; but I can get by as an average crafter, sometimes my projects turn out great and most times I end with a "what was I thinking??" But this little project turned out pretty well so I thought I would share with you all. Remember if I can do it - you can do it.

The inspiration comes from seeing all those cute colorful fabric letters at Anthropologie. And from watching Cougar Town. I'm sure if you're a big fan like me you've noticed the letters that spell out "EAT" in Jules' kitchen. LOVE them. So I came up with my own {FREE!} version:



I had all of these things laying around my house, cardboard boxes from the move, leftover fabric and for the letter stencil - I just opened up Word on my computer typed a "Y" increased the size to as big as a full page, picked the font I liked and printed it out then did the same for the "U" and the "M."

Start by choosing your fabric - I have no idea how much you'll need but a yard should be more than enough depending on what you want to spell out {see? a pro crafter would tell you exactly how much you need.}

Print and cut out your letters, trace them onto cardboard then cut them out. Then using your cardboard trace them onto the back of your fabric and cut that out. When tracing onto the fabric get sloppy and trace about an inch larger than the actual size of the letter you'll be making.

Lay your cardboard letter onto the wrong side of the fabric, glue your fabric around the cardboard {just like wrapping a present} Now I'm sure some people would think you can use a sewing machine for a project like this but I wouldn't even know where to begin with a sewing machine....soooo we glue. and glue and glue. And try not to burn your fingers! The glue is HOT.
Pull tight on the fabric as you're wrapping and gluing so you have a nice smooth surface on the front of your letter.

To make my letter a little sturdier I went back and cut out another letter from cardboard, this time smaller than the original and glued that to the back of my letter to make it a little firmer and to hide all my sloppy glue work.

Repeat steps for each letter, hang and enjoy!

Tip: Before hanging the letters I put them underneath my heavy printer to smoosh together while the glue dried overnight.