alphabet4pf

Quiltville Custom Quilting
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Tonya's Aphabet!
Free-Style Letters Primer
page 4

Capital S

S is another letter that needs to be made in two sections. Cut two approx 1 1/2" rectangles of letter fabric - I used the skinniest width for mine. ***

Sew them lengthwise to the skinny background fabric and trim.

*** If you want, on one of the letter fabric rectangles, attach a bit of background fabric so that the top part of the S won't extend all the way to the side of the letter. Don't have to do it, but I like the extra little touch it adds. If you have added the extra, better made sure that you that you sew the background fabric so that it will be underneath that section.***

Now you are going to sew these two sections onto a strip of letter fabric. I like to use the medium width so I can play with it, especially if I've added the extra doohickey on the top. If you've done the extra bit of background, the sections must be attached as in the following picture. If all you're attaching to the strip is background fabric, you know you've got it wrong. Whether you have the extra bit or not, the sections have to be added reverse of one another, as follows:

This is what you get when you trim and then turn the lower section around. You can adjust where you sew them together.

The last step is to add l-fabric at the bottom. I haven't trimmed up my unit yet, because I'm not sure if I want to turn it at some kind of angle or slant the side. I'll decide that after ironing.

On a final note, there are different ways of making the S, this just seemed like an easy one to explain. Would have been easier if I hadn't added the extra bit - d'oh, now I think of it. Briefly considering remaking the letter and immediately disregarding that foolish notion.

Capital G

G is started like the fancy J, but the placement is a bit different.

Then a couple more additions gets you to something that looks like the next pic. I actually forgot the upper bit of background and sewed on the next letter bit only to discover I wasn't going to get a G at all. Had to use the seam ripper and sew on the proper bit to get this:

And then two final bits of letter fabric and you have a G.

Capital V

For a V, you want a triangle cut vaguely in this shape. Used to be that I would use the side triangles to then finish off the unit, but that doesn't work as well as the trick I'm going to show you. And if you are really noticing details here, I did trim about a quarter inch off my triangle, after deciding I wanted it smaller.

I sewed the center triangle onto the wide letter strip, starting a good measure down so that the letter fabric would go all the way across. (You can work with it just fine if it doesn't.) I knew I didn't want my V to come to a point at the bottom, so I just trimmed the letter strip off so that the unit would measure 3" tall (my unfinished unit size) but you can do that wherever it looks good. My next step was to straighten up the edge, by following the background triangle all the way down (you can see what that looks like in the photo after this one).Sew the other leg onto the V. In the photo, I have the skinny background strip layed out so that you can see where I was going to attach it to the V. Once that's done, I trimmed it even.

Next I needed to get the side background triangles on. I recommend using a rectangle of your widest background fabric that is slightly taller than your letter. (It can be the same size, but bigger makes it easier). Lay the letter down on top, then slice away so that you get that same angle. Remember that when you are sewing with angles you need that 1/4" overlap at the top of the piece.

Having said that, you could also just sew the letter right onto the wide strip, and then cut off any excess. That will give you bias edges, but isn't necessarily a bad way to do it.

Repeat for the other side. At this stage, I recommend leaving all that background on the sides. You may need to cut it down some when you starting adding letters together, or not. Wait and see.

And here's the final V.

Capital Y

Y not?! Start by making a small V. I don't do the lower portion until after the upper one is finished so that I can gauge how wide to make the letter fabric bit. I'm off sometimes and that's ok too.

Sew 'em together and there you go.