How To Make Your Own Fabric Alphabet

by Marie Rippel

Playing with the alphabet is a great way to help your preschooler learn the alphabet and promote letter recognition, and this easy-to-make fabric alphabet will provide hours of kid-friendly, educational fun!

Our free download includes step by step instructions and printable letter templates so you can jump right in and make your own set of fabric letters!

Fabric Alphabet activity download 3-page spread

Ready to Get Started?

Print out the alphabet letter templates and cut out each letter using scissors or a utility knife.

Cut solid-color fabric, print fabric, and two layers of quilt batting into twenty-six five-inch squares. Squares should be large enough to accommodate the letter template plus a little bit of extra cutting room around each letter.

Trace each letter onto one square of print fabric. I used a disappearing marking pen, but feel free to use pencil. Pin together all layers.

Using a sewing machine, sew layers together with a wide stitch along the traced line.

Cut around each letter with pinking shears, about 1/4″ from the stitching. Cut out center holes (as in letters A, B, D, etc.) with small fabric scissors.

Repeat steps 3-5 with each letter of the alphabet. If you used a disappearing marking pen, remove the marks with a damp cloth (or follow the instructions for your pen).

Completed cut out fabric alphabet letter

Ways to Play with Your Fabric Alphabet

For plenty of transportable (and decorative!) fun, store your letters in a basket on your child’s bookcase!

Preschooler playing with fabric alphabet

Admire your handiwork and then give the letters to your little one to let the fun and learning begin! Can she spell her name?

Preschooler spelling out name with fabric alphabet

Or spell some easy words? It’s time to let the learning begin!

If you make a set of fabric letters for your child, we’d love to see some pictures! You can share your photos with us on Facebook or Instagram (tag @allaboutlearning)!

Create Your Own Template for Lowercase Letters and Numbers:

Here are instructions for creating your own template:

1. In Microsoft Word, type up the alphabet from A-Z and the numbers 0-9, using your favorite font and font size.
2. Select all of the letters, and then click the Text Effects tool. (In Microsoft Word 2010, the Text Effects tool is in the toolbox under Home, to the left of the highlighting tool. The icon for the text effects tool is a blue A.)
3. Choose whatever outline style your heart desires, and then voilà! That’s it! You’ve made your own customized template!

Fabric Alphabet Tips Recommended by Our Readers:

Sew magnets into the back layer of each letter so letters can be used on a white board. (Recommended by Chelsea B. via blog comment.)
Skip the batting and use felt or flannel as the backing so they can be used on the felt board. (Recommended by Chelsea B. via blog comment.)
Sew letters together with black embroidery floss instead of on a machine so the stitching really stands out. (Recommended by Beverly G. via blog comment.)
Use a lightweight tear away fabric to trace a whole page and pin or glue it to the fabric layers then sew through the whole thing. When done with each page of templates, there will be four complete sets of letters. (Recommended by Linda via blog comment.
Use coordinating colors or designs for the letters – apple print for “A”; blue print or banana print for “B”, etc. (Recommended by Paula via blog comment.)
Have an older child create this set for a younger sibling! (Recommended by Deb via blog comment.)
Dots for lower case letters – like in “i” and “j” – can be attached by sewing a layer of clear table cloth covering in between. (Recommended by Cynthia via blog comment.)

Did your preschooler enjoy this activity? Try some of our other great letter recognition activities!

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Faith

says:

December 18, 2021 at 7:40 am

I’ve finally made these and they are so adorable. For those of you that don’t have a sewing machine – you can easily hand stitch these. I purchased the pre-cut 5″ squares for the back and front. I cut up felt for the center. I’ve made my children quilted name banners for their rooms and I’m now about to make an alphabet set for my nephews.
Thank you for the tutorial!

December 18, 2021 at 7:43 am

Oh and I used embroidery floss (pick a contrasting color so that it will pop) and a hand stitching needle. I only used 3 strands of the embroidery floss (it usually has 6 strands.)

Robin E.

says: Customer Service

December 18, 2021 at 4:16 pm

The letters you have made sound beautiful, Faith! Thank you for sharing these tips for hand sewing them as well.

Alice A Buffington

December 8, 2021 at 1:05 pm

Hi. I love these letters but am having trouble cutting out the smaller areas with my pinking shears. Did you use special pinking shears for the inside areas of say the B and A?

December 8, 2021 at 2:59 pm

I’m sorry for the difficulty, Alice! No, much smaller scissors, like appliqué scissors, were used for the small closed in areas like on the A, B, R, and such.

December 10, 2021 at 9:01 am

Thank you! And thank you for sharing these online.

Sarah

September 23, 2021 at 8:42 pm

I don’t know if this has been answered before, but what thickness of batting was used here? I’m wondering why 2 layers when a different thickness may be able to do the same job.

September 24, 2021 at 7:55 pm

Good question, Sarah. I don’t know if there is a specific reason to use two layers of a thinner batting versus a single layer of a thicker one. From what crafters have told us, this project is very flexible and is still successful with all kinds of options. I’m pretty sure that one thicker layer would work very well.

September 25, 2021 at 8:04 am

Thank you so much for your response :) I have a lot of scraps from quilts I’ve made to strange sizes (and different batting thicknesses), so I thought I could use those. I’ll see what happens!

Nanci

April 25, 2021 at 6:19 am

I’m wondering about fraying…..Do you think I could use flannel instead of fabric? Maybe even for the batting layer as well?
Thank you!

April 26, 2021 at 12:02 pm

I think you mean felt, Nanci. Felt won’t fray or ravel and it will work fine with this project! I personally would be inclined to still use batting, though, as it helps the letters to be more three-dimensional and puffy. However, you could try one with felt instead of batting and see if you like it.

Flannel and many other fabrics do fray and ravel when cut. However, that is why it is recommended to cut them with pinking shears. The triangle cuts on the raw edges of the fabric will reduce the fraying to almost nothing and help the letters hold up for years!

nanci

April 27, 2021 at 2:31 pm

Thank you for your quick reply! I’m looking forward to making these!

Sheree

April 16, 2021 at 6:54 pm

LOVE,LOVE this idea !!! I am planning to make a couple of sets. And make extra letters the spells the child’s name.
I just wish there were numbers. Can you make numbers?

April 17, 2021 at 4:15 pm

Sheree,
Marie shared how to make a template for lower case letters and it’s pretty easy. Here’s what she wrote:

Making a template for lower-case letters is as simple as pie. In Microsoft Word, type up the alphabet a-z, using whatever font size that you would like. Then select all of the letters and click the Text Effects tool. (In Microsoft Word 2010, the Text Effects tool is in the toolbox under Home, to the left of the highlighting tool. The icon is a blue A.) Select this tool, choose whatever outline style your heart desires, and then voila! That’s it! You’ve made your own customized template for lower-case letters!

Have fun with your fabric alphabet!

It would be just as easy to do for numbers!

Mireille

April 15, 2021 at 7:23 pm

Thank you very much for making these alphabet templates available. I’ve made a quilt for my grandson and I wanted to present it to him in a market bag made out of Oly Fun fabric. I want to applique his name to the bag and your templates were very handy. He can use the bag for a beach bag if he so chooses because it’s plenty big enough. Take care and thanks again for your generosity.

April 17, 2021 at 4:09 pm

You’re welcome, Mireille! I’m glad these templates were useful for your project. It sounds super cute and a lovely gift!

christine

February 5, 2021 at 6:32 am

Hello Keen to get going for someones birthday this month (Feb 2021)
Im stumbling over the wadding , Ive not quilted or used before what am I too look for in the UK and what about washing. Mum will no doubt wash the letters as they have a dog too. Do I wash anything first the wadding or material or wash both at the end which Ive read makes the edges nice and tatty. Will they shrink at different amounts but most of all which wadding shall I look for to order in on the net. Many thanks

February 5, 2021 at 4:06 pm

Christine,
Generally it is best to prewash everything to minimize shrinkage, but even if you can prewash the wadding depends on the brand and type.

Lesley

January 17, 2021 at 8:28 am

I can’t seem to print this off

Thanks lesley

January 19, 2021 at 12:50 pm

Are you still having difficulties, Lesley? What device and browser are you using? It seems to be working fine on my end.

Deborah

January 6, 2021 at 6:23 pm

This will not download on my iPad. Can you send me the pdf to my email address?

January 7, 2021 at 10:53 am

I’m sorry you are having difficulties with this, Deborah. Is it possible you don’t have a PDF reader app on your iPad? Adobe Acrobat Reader is a well-rated free option that allows PDF files like this to be opened on devices.

However, I have also emailed you the PDF for the Fabric Alphabet.

Trina Painter

December 5, 2020 at 4:22 pm

Is there a lowercase alphabet set to match the uppercase size??

December 8, 2020 at 4:51 pm

Trina,
I’m sorry, no. We don’t have a pre-made template for lowercase letters. However, you can easily make a template for lowercase letters and even numbers. Here’s how:

In Microsoft Word, type up the alphabet a-z and the numbers 0-9, using whatever font size that you would like. Then select all of the letters and click the Text Effects tool. (In Microsoft Word 2010, the Text Effects tool is in the toolbox under Home, to the left of the highlighting tool. The icon is a blue A.) Select this tool, choose whatever outline style your heart desires, and then voila! That’s it! You’ve made your own customized template!

Diane

November 30, 2020 at 11:12 pm

Hi, do you need a quilting machine to sew around the letters? I can’t seem to sew around them neatly enough. Than you for the wonderful tutorial!

December 1, 2020 at 12:22 pm

Diane,
No, you don’t need a specialty machine to do this. These were made on a regular sewing machine, but they can also be handstitched.

I’m not sure what difficulties you are having with neatness. Maybe there is something off with your machine tension?

Sally Hauser

November 27, 2020 at 11:05 pm

I made these for a two year old out of Kaffe Facet 5×5 fabric squares. I drew the letters onto freezer paper and ironed onto squares. Stitched and tore off paper which left some pulled stitches so I restitched on top of first stitching for reinforcement. Turned out so cute!, thank you for your tutorial ?

December 1, 2020 at 11:42 am

You’re welcome, Sally! I’m glad these turned out well for you. Thanks for the tips about the freezer paper.

Kazzza

October 16, 2020 at 10:01 pm

I’m going to give this a try and make a HAPPY BIRTHDAY bunting banner that can be used by the whole family all year round..

October 17, 2020 at 5:34 pm

What a great idea, Kazzza! It would be cute to make a bunting banner that spells out a child’s name for their room as well.

October 22, 2021 at 3:55 pm

Good idea.. thanks, done 😀
I have also just finished 10 MERRY CHRISTMAS buntings for my work mates this year..
Hope they enjoy them as much as I have enjoyed making them – it gave me something to do during the longest COVID lock down so far in the world 🌍.

October 23, 2021 at 6:16 pm

I’m loving the idea of doing banners for all sorts of things, Kazzza!

Amy T.

October 5, 2020 at 6:04 am

How cute! Looks like SEW (he-he… just finished playing on the homophone machine) much fun.
I homeschool an 11 year old struggling reader/speller who wants to learn to sew.
This will be a great activity for her.

October 5, 2020 at 7:46 pm

Hee-hee! Good one, Amy. I do think this is a great first project activity.

Angela

September 30, 2020 at 1:19 pm

This is a cute idea! I may have to drag out the sewing machine to do this!

Sarah Barkley

September 30, 2020 at 9:25 am

These are adorable! I will definitely be making for my rising Kindergartener!

hollie

September 28, 2020 at 8:30 am

My older guys have been wanting to learn to sew, and this is going to be their project!! Thanks!

September 28, 2020 at 8:07 pm

This would be a great first sewing project, Hollie! Great idea!

Carla

September 11, 2020 at 6:33 am

I can’t wait to try these! Little sister has been tagging along to our Kindergarten lessons, and I think this would help her get more out of the pre-reading experience!