These felt alphabet letters are so cute and cuddly! Use our free, printable letter templates to make these felt letters in your favourite colours. It’s such a fun and easy sewing project, perfect for beginners!
Make felt letters to spell out a name, or stitch together the whole alphabet! These stuffed letters are a tactile DIY toy that promotes learning and letter recognition. They’re great for kids at home or in a preschool classroom!
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How to Make Felt Letters
Materials:
- FREE Printable Felt Letters Pattern
- Felt (colour of choice)
- Sewing thread (or embroidery floss; matching felt colour)
- Polyester fiber fill
Equipment:
- Fabric scissors (or rotary cutter and mat)
Watch the step-by-step video tutorial:
Instructions:
Step 1: Find what you need
- Gather your supplies and materials.
Step 2: Cut the felt letter pieces
- We have all 26 letters of the alphabet available for you to print out.Print one of the letter patterns (find the link in the materials list above!) and cut out around it.
- Hold the pattern piece on top of the felt to cut it out.You can also pin the pattern to the felt to make it easier to cut, or trace around the template with chalk or a gel pen.Be sure to cut 2 pieces — the front and back of the letter.
Step 3: Sew the letter together with a blanket stitch
- Place the 2 pieces of felt on top of one another, aligning them. Begin sewing them together with a blanket stitch in the center (if your letter has a hole in the middle).Bring your needle up through both layers of felt, about 1/8 inch from the edge. Pull the thread almost all the way through and tie the front thread to the tail in a double knot.
- Tuck the excess thread between the two layers of felt and bring your needle back up about 1/4 inch away from the last stitch.Before you pull your needle all the way through, wrap the thread around the needle.
- Make your way around the inside of the letter.Finish off your thread by going back and forth through the last stitch a few times, and then tuck the excess thread between the two layers of felt.
- Repeat, sewing a blanket stitch around the outer edge of the letter.
- Continue stitching around the outside until there’s a 1 to 2 inch gap left.
Step 4: Stuff and close off the felt letter
- Add stuffing to the letter through the gap. You can use a knitting needle, chopstick, or pencil to push the stuffing where you can’t reach.Ensure the letter is evenly and firmly stuffed.(You may also want to add stuffing as you sew for some letters.)
- Close off your letter, continuing your blanket stitch. Finish off the thread by going through the last stitch a few times.Then push the needle down through the seam and up through the front of the letter.
- Cut off the excess thread and then pinch the felt to hide the thread inside the letter.
- Your felt letter is complete!
Helpful Tips:
- You can pin the felt pieces together while sewing them, to ensure that the 2 sides stay aligned.
- Decorate your felt letters by embroidering flowers or another small design onto the front of the letter before sewing it together.
- To create a weighted sensory toy, add some poly-pellets to your letter before sewing it closed.
Get our free printable felt alphabet letters template:
The link and picture below will take you to our free, printable felt alphabet letters pattern! The 26 page PDF file will open in a new window. Then simply print the template of your choice on 8.5 x 11 (letter size) printer paper.
>>> Felt Alphabet Letters Pattern <<<
What size felt letters does this pattern make?
Our patterns make letters that are roughly 5 inches tall. You can make the letters bigger or smaller by scaling the PDF before printing it.
What type of felt is best for making alphabet felt letters?
We used soft craft felt to make our felt letters. This felt is easy to find at the craft store, and it’s an inexpensive choice that’s great for most kids crafts. It’s quite thin, though, and it pills easily if you handle it a lot.
If your felt letters won’t be handled much, then craft felt is probably a good choice. But if you want your stuffed letters to last for a long time, or hold up to repeated handling, we definitely recommend using wool felt.
Wool felt is more expensive than craft felt, but it’s very soft and durable. It also has a nicer looking texture than synthetic felt, which will give your alphabet letters a higher quality look.
What can I do with these stuffed alphabet letters?
This stuffed alphabet is quite versatile! The letters are a great educational toy, but they also look beautiful on display. Here are a few ways to use these felt letters:
- Soft toy
- Learning tool for letter recognition
- Shelf decoration
- Spell out a greeting or holiday message
- Door decoration
- Nursery sign
- Bed decoration/pillow
- Wall banner
- Gift topper
How do I sew these felt letters?
We hand stitched our felt letters using a blanket stitch. You can also use a running stitch or a whip stitch.
Or you can even use a sewing machine to sew felt, though this works better with thicker wool felt. Use a straight stitch and take your time going around the rounded corners.
Using a sewing machine is a lot faster, but it may be more difficult to get neat stitches in small areas.
Can these felt alphabet letters be washed?
The best option to clean your stuffed alphabet letter is surface cleaning with a mild detergent. Dab rather than rub, to avoid pilling the felt.
The next best option is hand washing with warm (not hot) water. Gently squeeze the water out as best you can.
In a pinch you can throw the letters in the washing machine if they’re really soiled. Place them in a laundry bag and wash them on the delicate cycle with cool water.
Whichever method you choose to wash the letters, make sure you let them air dry. Heat from the dryer will shrink and ruin the felt.
These felt letters make beautiful decorations, and they’re also a great soft toy for pretend play. Stitch one of these soft and squishy felt letters together in your favourite colours. You can use bright colours of felt to draw younger kids in, or match the colour scheme to your room decor!
Here’s even more felt craft ideas:
Our book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids is loaded with 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! The projects are fun, easy and most importantly low-mess, so the clean up is simple!
Where to buy:
You can purchase Low-Mess Crafts for Kids from Amazon, or wherever books are sold:
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Books-A-Million | Indiebound | Amazon Canada
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