Fabric Letters

 

I don't know about the rest of you, but with only a few more days until Christmas, I've still got quite a list.  Perhaps I'm in a bit of denial, because when I should have been checking things off of my "to do" list, instead I've been doing things like making an elf (pattern from Gingermelon) and making these fabric letters.  Nothing like a good dose of procrastination, right?

And it turns out, it's actually not all procrastination. The fabric Santa letter I made was actually a trial run for sewing up a mail bag for Lu's preschool class.  I figured that if she was going to be helping me sew these, I'd better have some idea of what I was doing.  Sewing with a 4 year is hard enough when you know what you are doing!

Fabric and felt letters are everywhere on the internet, so I certainly can't take credit for the idea.  Mine are a little bit different though, as I used chalkboard fabric for the addressee label, as well as a small rectangle for the inside letter. I figured it would be a good toy for kids who are just learning to spell and write their names.

Want to make your own fabric letters?  Here's how I made mine.  Want a peak at the mail bag and letters that are a gift for Lu's preschool?  Keep reading below.

 

 

My letters are lined, which means that I started out with two fabric pieces (the outside one I embellished with a "stamp" and a chalkboard label).

 

 

Here are my pieces:

Then I made a sandwich, putting the "right" sides together.   I sewed all around the envelope, leaving the small flat (not-curved) side completely open. 

Clip around the curved seam (this will make seam lay more flat).

Turn it inside out, so that the "right" sides are visible.  You should see that the bottom side is open here.

I folded over the raw edges on the bottom side like this (see below) and sewed it up.

Now I just folded it up and sewed up the side seams, creating an envelope.

I tacked on a Velcro dot and added a piece of chalkboard fabric (backed with felt) as a letter.  Not too hard!

 

Now for Lu's school, Lu picked out the fabric to make three envelopes.  She also picked out three "stamps" that I had printed out a while back for another project that I never quite got to.  You might recognize the illustrated children from my world blocks. 

 

 

 

And finally I made a simple duck cloth messenger bag to put them in. A relatively simple project all in all, and hopefully the kids will enjoy playing dress up with this mail kit.  It feels good to have one big thing checked off my list. 

 

 

I'd like to say that my kids will be getting lots of handmade Christmas presents this year, but it turns out that I just haven't had much time.  But I've had a great time helping them make presents for other people, and that's pretty cool too.

 

And I think this will probably be my last tutorial of the 2013...I hope everyone has a magical Christmas and a wonderful new year.  Thanks for following my blog, and I look forward to sharing more projects in 2014.