DIY Felt Letters

Last year I saw some precious fabric letters and thought they were the cutest thing. I figured I could use my scrap fabric and extra batting from quilts. Well, I found after 2 letters that i didn't like how you could see the batting and I would need to encase the batting, and that would take a lot longer... so I moved to Plan B, FELT!
Here is what I came up with.

Materials:

• 2 bags of poly fill
• 2 things of any color embroidery floss
• 13 sheets of felt (Any color)
• needle
• scissors
• printer

Instructions:

1. Print off alphabet letters. I used Arial, Bold, Outline, size 350, and I turned the page to Landscape. 
2. Cut out letters
3. Fold 1 sheet of Felt in 1/2 hamburger style. (so it's fat and not long)
4. Pin 2 - 3 letters per piece of folded felt and cut out letters. You should have 2 of each letter.

5. Cut floss around 18-24 inches and use 2 threads. 

6. Blanket stitch around the sides. Above is a picture of how to do a blanket stitch.

• Insert needle into both pieces of felt.
• While holding floss back, push needle through felt.
• It should look like a little knot is going to form.
• Pull tight and repeat.

To stitch corners, insert needle into the last blanket stitch hole and add a stitch. This stitch should line up on the corner. Insert needle into same hole and stitch. This will put you on a need side. 

7. Once you have created a tube, stuff it will poly fill. This was an "I" so I was able to do 3 sides and then fill. Letters like "M" "N" and "W" you will want to fill as you go. Also, letters that have holes in the middle, you will want to stitch the middles first and then work on the outside.

Ready to fill

8. Once you have stitched and stuffed, stitch across the top all the way back to the starting point. 

9. Tie a knot into first stitch.

10. After I tie the knot I like to push the needle down the side of the letter, and THEN cut off the extra floss. I feel like this helps hide the knot string. 

Once you have them done you can give them to the kids to start learning! Elias was super interested in them at about 15 months and could identify all 26 letters and get them upon request at 19 months! This little letters are still one of his favorite toys and I can't wait to start using them to spell words. 

These would be really cute in alternating colors! Please feel free to share your thoughts and questions with me.

 Follow me on Google+ or Facebook for more fun craft ideas for the kiddos