Alphabet Soup

I had a birthday coming up for a very special one-year-old but I had no idea what to get for her. What do you get a one-year-old? I have other nieces and nephews, but it's been a bit since I've needed a gift for one that young. Off to bloggyland I went, in search of great gift ideas. It wasn't long before I came across a great project at Stitching in the Dark for a plush alphabet (updated 3/6/12: The page with the original tutorial is no longer available). Off to the sewing machine I went!

I had a charm pack (pre-cut squares) in great colors and matching flannel to use for the backing.

 I followed the guidelines in her tutorial and made my templates with Word, using font Tunga in size 400 in the outline mode.

Then I used a washable fabric marker to trace each of the letters onto a different pre-cut square.

So there should be your patterned fabric with the traced letters, batting cut to the same size and backing fabric cut to the same size.

Pin the pieces together in that order. Then carefully sew around your traced outlines with a straight stitch. I finished them by cutting the edges with pinking scissors so they won't fray.

 Then I stitched up this quick and easy drawstring tote from The Purl Bee to keep all the letters in.

 I received a sweet note that she loves it and that is the best part!