Quilted Letters from Leftovers

After a recent quilt finish (hashtag secret sewing) there were long strips of excess batting and backing leftover after trimming.

Quilted fabric letters of the alphabet

What could I do with these leftover strips of batting and backing?  The backing fabric is the signature print (Prism) from Latifah Saafir's fabric line, Grafic, by Hoffman Fabrics.

Long strips of backing fabric after quilt was trimmed

I had the idea of making a quilted alphabet as a Christmas gift for a couple of little boys.  I pulled some solids which coordinated with the colors in the backing fabric.

Batting and solid fabrics for the fabric letters

Most quilted fabric alphabet tutorials call for printing 4" letters on card stock, cutting them out and using those as templates.  That seemed really time consuming so I went on a hunt for stencils.  I found these 4" die-cut letter a dollar store.  Although the edges were rounded, I wanted to give them a try and, after all, they were only a $1.

4" Die-cut letters and numbers

On the first letters, I traced around the letters using a water soluble fabric marker and squared off the rounded edges.

Letters traced using a water solable fabric marker

Since the drawn line needed to be the cutting line for the letters, I found it difficult to judge the spacing in order to quilt inside the line especially in the curves.

Letters after quilting

These are the first letters completed, not perfect by any means, but not bad.  I knew more vowels than consonants would be needed so the first letters I made were a set vowels plus a W or M.  I cut them out with pinking shears.

Quilted fabric letters

Things really sped up when I switched from a the fabric marker to a Frixion pen.  I could easily trace around the letters and even draw the quilting line rather quickly using a small ruler.  I just eyeballed marking a little less than 1/4" away from the outside line.  I just free handed the curves for a guideline.

Lines traced by using a Frixion pen

I found the most commonly used letters of the alphabet according to Oxford Dictionary and kept making letters.  Somehow I missed the T's, the second most common letter, and need to make a few more of those.

Quilted fabric letters of the alphabet

I hope two little boys will like their quilted alphabet.

They would need something to hold the quilted letters and decided to make an oversized zippered Becca bag.  I used a low volume print from Grafic for the lining and the largest zipper I had on hand, a 24" zipper.  It finished around 11" wide by 9" tall.

You can see more about the Becca bags I made here from C&S fabrics and here from MQG challenge fabric.

Becca bag made to hold all the quilted letters

I made a tab from the selvage which includes the year it was made.  A low loft batting, Thermore, was used giving the bag a little body.  I quilted just a few straight lines to sandwich the layers together.

Becca bag made from Grafic signature print by Hoffman Fabrics

The next time you have leftover fabric and batting strips at least 4" wide, remember they are perfect for making quilted fabric letters for little ones.

And one more tip...I suggest prewashing and drying the letters before gifting them.  With all the raw edges and cutting with the pinking shears, they were very linty.

Linking to Tips and Tutorials Tuesday #4, Let's Bee Social #156, Needle and Thread Thursday, Finished or Not Friday and Show Off Saturday.