Fabric covered letters at no cost!

by Jacqui Ventham
(Cardiff)

Materials:

Cardboard
Scrap material (old suit jacket lining, clothes/cotton shirts you no longer wear, scraves etc)
Gaffa tape
Toy/cushion stuffing
Thread or ribbon
Sharp scissors
Thick needle

1/ I dont have a printer so I found a font I liked in Word, zoomed it in to 500% and then held an A4 peice of paper against the screen, tracing the outline of the letter. Make sure you dont press too hard or you may danage your monitor!

2/ Cut out the letters and use them as a template to re-produce the letters in stiff cardboard. I tore up an old packing box to use.

3/ Lay the cardboard letter onto the material you have chosen and draw around the edges leaving about 2/3 inches gap.

4/ Cut small strips of gaffa tape and fold them on themselves to create a double sided tape strip, and place at intervals along the face of the cardboard letter. Or find another way that works for you such as a prit-stick etc.

5/ Take your stuffing of choice and stick to the tape applied above, creating a thin layer of padding. The idea is to not be too thick but just to create a slight 3d effect.

6/ Lay your letter face down onto the face down fabric. You should now have a sandwich of fabric, stuffing, cardboard.

7/ Starting at central points, gradually work around the edges of the letter, folding the fabric over the edge and securing at the back with gaffa tape. Take care on tight corners that you snip the spare fabric diagnolly right to the corner, and pull the fabric tight over the egde.

8/ Take a thick needle and thread with ribbon or thread of your choice, and pierce through the top of the letter about 1cm from the top edge to create a hanging loop. (You might want to hang the letter between your thumb and index finger to find the centre of gravity so it doesnt hang lop sided)

Tips:

Cotton shirts in plain colours work well if you include part of the seam, buttons, or top of the pocket for example.

Mix and match your materials, putting a silk patterned letter (from an old neck tie for example) next to a plain velvet letter (from an old cushion cover or curtain) of a different colour is really effective.

If you dont think you have any materials you could use, try going through your wardrobe and drawers and you will be surprised what you find, aswell as your airing cupboard for old tea towels, pillow cases etc etc...the more interesting and varied the textures, patterns and colours in one set the better!

I used toy stuffing left over from a previous craft project, but you can also use the stuffing from any old cushions or toys, or scrap material cut into strips, or even torn up tissue paper/kitchen towels!