Quilted Letters Tutorial

Quilted letters are a quick project that are great for toddlers and young readers! My four year old loves to play with the letters and spell his name and words he knows. I recently designed the Speak Love quilt and love how the letters are a great addition to gift with the quilt too!

(If you're looking for the Speak Love pattern, you can find the digital version on Etsy and Craftsy, and the print version on Etsy.)

The first step is to make your letter and number templates. There are several options for this.

Option 1: Use premade letters like bulletin board letters.

Option 2: Use a Cricut or similar cutting machine to cut letters from paper or cardstock.

Option 3: Use a computer program (like Microsoft Word or PowerPoint) to make your letters, print them, then cut them out.

I used option 3 to make my own letters. I added "WordArt" into a document, chose a font I liked, and made all my letters the same size (my tallest letters are about 4" tall). I made all lowercase letters, numbers 0-9, and a few symbols and punctuation like #, &, and !.

Once your letter templates are ready, gather the rest of your supplies. You'll need:

Letter/number templates
Fabric (1/2 yard for front and 1/2 yard for back)
Batting (18" x 40")
Basting pins or basting spray
Straight pins
Pinking shears

I like to use a different fabric for the back of the letters than the front. It helps young learners to know which way the letters should go. I also prefer 100% cotton batting for this project (I used Warm 100 by The Warm Co.). The edges of the fabric/batting are left unfinished, so I prefer using natural fibers if a baby might chew on it. (The fabric pictured is from Sarah Maxwell's A Shout, A Whisper, A Text fabric by Marcus Fabrics.)

First, make a quilt sandwich using your fabrics and batting. I do this the same way I do for my larger quilts and use basting pins. (Basting spray is a great option for this too!)

I use blue painter's tape to tape the backing fabric right side down to my dining room table. I tape in the middle of one side then pull the opposite side taut and tape it down. Then I do the same for the other two sides. Last, I pull the corners taut and tape. (I'm using fat quarters. For larger pieces of fabric, I tape every 10"-12" along each side.) (You should probably press your fabric first too. Guess I should add "do as I say, not as I do." Lol!)

I lay the batting on top of the backing fabric and smooth it out to be flat.

Then I lay the top fabric on, right side up. I try my best to line up the edges with the backing fabric (I lift the batting edges to peek, then shift the top fabric if needed. Then I start in the middle and place a basting pin. I add basting pins moving out from the center about a hand width away. I smooth the top fabric as I go, making sure the fabric is taut.

Once the sandwich is complete, pin a letter template in one corner using straight pins. Be sure to place the letter about 1/2" from the edge. I was able to make my whole set from 1 yard of fabric (1/2 yard for the front and 1/2 yard for the back). Leave 1/2" between letters so you'll have room to cut them apart later.

Using a free motion quilting foot (or darning foot), quilt around each letter template. At the start and end, I stitch in place about 3 times to lock the stitches in place.

Quilt slowly, keeping the stitches just barely away from the edge of the templates.

Continue for each letter, number, and symbol. If you are making the letters for a gift, make sure to include multiples of letters for creating the recipient's name. I also recommend uppercase letters for names and multiples of all the vowels. For example, if the recipient's name is "Sally", I would make two lowercase Ls and an uppercase S.

Once quilted, use pinking shears to cut each letter out. Be sure to cut just outside the stitched lines.

Enjoy!

I love pairing these with my Speak Love quilt as a baby gift! I can imagine the parents have just as much fun spelling fun phrases with their new baby. I know I would have taken a picture with "I pooped!" above the baby! Ha!

It's on my to-do list to make a set with fabric scraps where each letter uses a different fabric. I want to use airplane fabric for the A, bee fabric for the B, cat fabric for the C, etc. I think my boys would love the added "I Spy" effect. It would be a good way to squeeze in a little extra learning too! ;)

Let me know if you make any quilted letters!

(If you're looking for the Speak Love pattern, you can find the digital version on Etsy and Craftsy, and the print version on Etsy.)

Linking up with Tips and Tutorials Tuesday at Quilting Jetgirl, Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts, Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter, Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication, Finished Or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts, and Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

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