Felt Alphabet Tutorial and Featured Artist - Evgie!

As you may know, my grandson just turned 1 year old.

Alex loving his letters!

So of course, being a crafter and sewer, I decided I HAD to make him his gifts! I love pa-rousing the internet, especially Etsy for great ideas that I can recreate into my own version. I was so inspired by these wonderful felt alphabets in Evie's Shop that I wanted to try my own. This is my take on a set of felt alphabet letters:

my version

First, choose a font and size you want to use. I used Gill Sans Ultra Bold, size 340 in a Publisher program. Print out each letter, cut out and trace onto 3 layers of felt, using a disappearing fabric pen.

the letter "I"

I tried cutting the felt at this point, but I had a hard time sewing it and keeping the layers lined up, so I decided to sew it together first, and then cut it out, like this:

You can hardly see the tracing line in this pic, but it is there! 

Using a decorative stitch on your machine, sew the 3 layers together, along the traced letter line.

sewn letter "L"

Now cut out as close and neat as you can around the letter.

Voila!!

Now, for the bad news, it took about 3 days to make these, then, when I thought I was done and layed them all out, I found I was missing about 5 letters, (dah) and it took a few more hours to finish them. The good news is, if you like this idea and don't want to make them, you can purchase them here: evgie !   She has the most beautiful, felt alphabets, clocks, (yes, felt clocks!) mobiles and wall art, and more, all hand embroidered, made with eco friendly felt and perfect! I asked her if it would be ok to do my tutorial, and she graciously agreed. Thank you, Evgie!! Make sure you visit her shop, you will find the perfect gift for the special child in your life!!
A side note: I SKYPed with Alex last nite, and he LOVED the letters! He picked them up, inspected them, waved them around, threw them, picked up more. Again and again. It was great!! They are 1 year old approved!

(Note: all links to Evgie's shop by permission of Evgie)