Making a pattern and sewing an alphabet from felt

Soft pillows in the form of different letters are a popular trend now, capable of decorating a child's or adult's bedroom, and becoming an original gift for any holiday. But a more important purpose that they can fulfill is to introduce a child to the alphabet. You can start as early as 2-3 years old. At this age, figurative thinking prevails, as a result of which those objects that can be touched are remembered.

It is not difficult to create such soft pillows, the main thing is to take care of the alphabet of the pattern. This is the so-called template of future elements, which will need to be transferred directly to the material of the future product. It is not difficult to sew the entire soft alphabet, and even more so to make patterns for the alphabet from felt with your own hands. You just need to stock up on time and materials.

Materials and tools

To create a soft alphabet, you need to purchase the following items from craft and handicraft stores:

• Filler - you can use synthetic padding, holofiber or synthetic fluff. The latter option is preferable, as it is light and does not lose its shape. To develop tactile perception, many advise taking cereals, but first you will need to calcine it in the oven to prevent the appearance of bugs.
• Textile glue or glue gun. These 2 types of glue are non-toxic and odorless. If the letters are not being created for a child, you can also take Moment Crystal glue.

• Scissors, Velcro, magnets, needle.
• A disappearing fabric marker to transfer patterns onto fabric and make notes. In a pinch, you can use a gel pen.
• Thin but opaque fabric.
• Threads - for sewing toys you can use regular sewing threads or floss. The second option has an advantage - a rich color range, allowing you to choose a color to match the fabric, then the seams will not be noticeable.

Choice of fabrics

Many woven and non-woven materials are suitable for creating soft parts:

• Fleece
• Cotton.
• Flax.
• Felt.
• Silk.
• Fleece.
• Flannel.

All needlewomen who have tried to make soft letter pillows say that the best fabric for this purpose is felt. This is a dense non-woven material consisting of pressed wool. Felt is valued for its advantages:

• Strong, non-crumbling edge.
• A wide variety of colors.
• Plasticity, the ability to retain shape.
• Easy to use - bends in different directions, easily torn and cut.
• Possibility of double-sided use.
• A wide variety of colors.

Optimal alphabet size

You need to decide in advance what size the alphabet and animals will be. This determines how much felt you need to buy. Teachers working with children believe that the optimal size for a child's hand is letters of 6.5-10 cm.

But it is worth remembering that the side seams will take about 2 mm, after stuffing the letter will gain volume and will look smaller. Therefore, to sew a volumetric Russian alphabet, the pattern should be large - 12-13 cm.

If the alphabet is created as a decorative component, any size can be used.

Stitch for sewing letters from felt

Women who do not have the art of sewing at a high level can easily make soft letters. You only need to know 4 basic sewing methods:

• A loop stitch is a row of identical loop stitches located along the edges of a garment.

• Backstitch is a continuous row of stitches worked from right to left.
• Overlock stitch - stitches laid along the edges of the product. They are made by constantly bringing the needle from the back to the front side by throwing the thread over.
• French knot stitch - voluminous point knots made by tightening the loops. Used for sewing on decorative elements.

Felt Letter Patterns with Animals

To make it interesting for a child to learn the alphabet, you can sew charming animals in addition to felt letters. An alphabet made of felt is perfect for this; patterns with animals can always be found on the Internet, or you can come up with and make them yourself.

To do this, you will need the following materials, which can be purchased at a craft store:

• Velcro.
• Fabric of a different color for pockets.
• Filler: synthetic padding, foam rubber, cardboard.
• Main fabric.

Before you start working, you need to prepare the animal patterns. You don't need to invent anything here. Experienced needlewomen have long ago come up with animals for 29 letters of the alphabet, which can be easily made at home:

• "A" is for stork.
• "B" is for hippopotamus.
• "B" is for wolf.
• "G" is for goose.

• "D" is for dolphin.
• "E" is for raccoon.
• "Yo" is a hedgehog.
• "G" is for giraffe.
• "Z" is for hare.
• "And" - ia-ia.
• "Y" is Yorkshire Terrier.
• "K" is for cat.
• "L" is for fox.
• "M" is for mouse.
• "N" is for rhinoceros.
• "O" is for sheep.
• "P" is for panda.
• "R" is for fish.
• "C" is for elephant.
• "T" is for tiger.
• "U" is for snail.
• "F" is for eagle owl.
• "X" is for hamster.
• "C" is for chicken.
• "Ch" is for turtle.
• "Sh" is for chimpanzee.
• "Щ" is pike.
• "Ы" - mouse with cheese.
• "E" is for emu.
• "I" am a lizard.

Volumetric letters

The process of creating three-dimensional letters is not complicated, but it takes a lot of time. First, you need to make patterns of the alphabet from felt and print them. You can take them from the Internet or create them in Word, choosing any font you like. You need to cut out 2 identical parts of each letter. If the corners of the patterns are sharp, they are rounded.

If the pattern is transferred to felt, the following nuances and recommendations should be taken into account:

• The patterns are laid out on felt in any direction; it has no grain or cross threads.
• The material does not have a back side - you can trace the template from any side of the felt.
• The edge of the product does not require special processing; there is no need to turn the letters inside out.
• A few millimeters are left for the seam.

Next, after making the parts of the letters, we move on to the main part:

1. Sew identical parts together, starting from the inner holes. Hide the knot of thread inside.
2. The letter is filled during the stitching process. The denser the figure is filled, the smoother and more voluminous it will be.
3. Having finished sewing, make a knot. Hide the thread inside the letter and cut it.

Animals for letters are made according to the following master class:

1. Print out the stencil.
2. The pattern pieces are pinned to the fabric.
3. Cut out 2 pieces of each pattern and sew them together. Fill in the process, just like the letter.
4. When all the parts of the animal are ready, they are glued or sewn together into a single whole according to the pattern.
5. They attach velcro to the animal and the letter and connect them together.

If the entire alphabet and animals are ready, you can start making the canvas. Take a thick fabric (preferably the same one from which all the parts were made) about 100 cm wide and 50 cm long for letters measuring 10 cm. Make pockets for the entire alphabet. They should be 2 times larger than the letters. Sew or glue the pockets to the canvas. Put an animal and a letter in each. The second option is to attach the parts with Velcro.

Flat felt elements

If you don't want to bother with a three-dimensional alphabet, you can make flat letters. There are 2 ways. The first is the easiest option to work with. The template is pinned to the felt, traced along the contour and cut out.

The second option for making flat parts looks more interesting. For the base, take a dense material, for the upper part use a soft fabric. When preparing patterns, you need to make one blank of the font of the desired size, and the second font is the same, but 2 sizes smaller.

The main letters will be multi-colored, and the smaller ones will be in one color. Next, using a silicone gun, you need to glue the smaller letters onto the larger ones. You need to leave an equal distance along the edges.

3 simple way to make the alphabet is considered the most original. Using patterns, a whole set with duplicates is made in a short time. Ready-made figures cut out of fabric are glued to a sheet of thick material with silicone glue and cut out, 2-3 mm should be left at the edges. Contrasting colors will look good in this design.

Using felt alphabet

Felt alphabet with animals is just what you need for educational activities with your child.

Bright letters will attract attention, quickly and for a long time will be remembered. And to consolidate the acquired knowledge will help fun games with felt alphabet, which can be held at home, in the classroom:

• "Soft landing" - lay out the alphabet on the floor, circle a toy airplane over it: "The airplane flew and flew - on which letter did it land?" The child must answer as quickly as possible.
• “Who lives in the house?” - invite the girl or boy to put a suitable toy animal in the labeled pocket.

The work of creating a felt alphabet is painstaking and long work. But every minute invested in the development of a child will become the basis for the formation of a happy and successful person.