DIY Applique Letters - My Share Chair Project

A few months ago a friend of mine was moving upstate and was getting rid of a lot of her furniture. I can't fit anything else in my apartment but I will always accept free stuff, especially when I think it can be part of a DIY project! Along with a kitchen table and a dresser, we took 4 of these kitchen chairs. I knew I wanted to do something with them but couldn't decide on anything. 

Then, after a recent observation I had with my principal he suggested that I create some kind of "share chair" for my class. I've been trying to get them to really pay attention to their peers when they're speaking and not just me. I'm hoping making a designated spot for a sharer will help create that kind of atmosphere.

So, I immediately thought about what I could do with my extra chairs. I had just recently discovered how to do applique letters for a Christmas present so I used some left over heat n bond and had tons of scrap fabrics in my closet. If you want to try this project, you will need:

Materials needed:

Scraps of fabric 

Heat n bond iron-on adhesive (1 yard package)

Iron

The first thing you’re going to want to do is select a font. I like to choose really chunky ones for applique because it’s easier to cut out and see once on the fabric. For this product I used Hello Firstie from the amazing Jen Jones and her store Hello Literacy on TpT! Click on the link below to link to get her great fonts!

Hello Literacy Fonts

Enlarge the font to whatever size you need. Most likely you’ll need it really big. I had it on size 413! Then you’ll need to make your text backwards.

Next you’re going to need some kind of iron-on adhesive. I used heat n bond Ultrahold. You can get it at your local craft store or on Amazon.

You’re going to want to trace your letters with the bumpy side down. Sorry I didn’t get a photo of this since I’m a one woman team! Then I cut out all of the letters individually since I wanted each letter a different color. Leave some space around the edges of the letters so you have some room when cutting. Now is a good time to start warming up your iron!

Once you have picked out your fabric, lay the bumpy side of the heat and bond and iron away. It only takes a few seconds. Be careful, the fabric and adhesive get hot!

Next, carefully cut out each letter. Leave the applique on for now. You’ll take it off in a later step.

 Organize all of your letters or shapes in their places to make sure they fit and to make small adjustments. If you’re a real perfectionist, you can pin the letters so that they don’t move, but I’m not that kind of gal. J

Peel the backing off your letter or shape.

Sorry this isn't the best photo!

Place wrong side down and iron on. I spend some extra time on corners and edges because I don’t want those parts to stick up, especially since this is meant to be a chair.

And you’re done! I did end up sewing that dark blue section to the chevron because I didn’t want if to shift around but that’s optional of course. 

That's all! I hope this tutorial gave you some good ideas on how you can use applique in your projects or classroom. Feel free to comment with how you use it!

If you have any questions about the instructional, please comment or email me at workofharte@gmail.com.

Happy Teaching! :)