Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Letters

Woolywoman Laura here. I have been making letters and they are kicking my behind. Cannot seem to figure out the "A". Now if I could spell words with just a "C" an "O" and a "H" I would be getting somewhere. And the seams! I am more casual than almost anyone about how the back of my piece looks, but this is really something! How does everyone else manage?

5 comments:

laura said...

I taught my son the alphabet by bending pine needles into the shapes of letters, and it's sort of like that. Don't get too caught up in how they look as long as a 2 year old can tell what they are, you're good. Seriously, check-out Tonya's tutorial, it helps to make sense of it all. Also make sure that your font style, the handwriting you want, is really simple the first time out. As far as the back, I trim as I go and never plan to hand-quilt them (don't know how Tonya manages that).

Brenda said...

it is mostly practice, and you will get the letters in your head. think of a lower case A as a C with a strip of background fabric on top and then the letter fabric, and then a strip of fabric to the right. You could make the uppercase A in block letters -- think F with another strip along the side. good luck1

YankeeQuilter said...

Definitely read through the tutorial. Then get some graph paper...at the beginning it helps it sort of draw your letter out into a few basic shapes on the graph paper. (Also when you get up from the sewing machine it helps you remember what letter you are working on!) As for the backs...I press my letters a lot all along the way and trim my seams so they are a scant 1/3 inch. I also use a fair amount of the Mary-Ellen Best Press along the way. Finally - as long as it is vaguely legible then I'm OK with it!

Kim said...

When I started making letters I had my computer right next to my sewing machine. First I would look at Tonya's
tutorial, do the first step to make the letter, then compare what I had done to her pictures. Okay good I did that okay......next step from the picture sew it then check. really I did this until I got the letters in my head. Not that I am an expert but I have gotten comfortable with the process.
I bet if you ask Tonya she'll tell you it took practice and experimentation to learn this technique.

Happy Sewing

Tonya Ricucci said...

lots of good advice already! just do a capital A the easy way. Brenda describes it as an F with a bar down the side, but I always think of it as an H with another strip across the top.