Crafts - Yarn Letters

Letter H hanging on the wall (zoomed in)

 To decorate above H's crib I spelled out his name with these homemade letters.

Each letter doesn't take very long, but I kept putting off finishing these with two wiggly boys.  And one of the letters I did backwards at first, so that didn't really encourage me to finish, because it looked so perfect minus being backwards.

I liked how these turned out a lot, so I am considering making something similar above our front door (either a large K or the house numbers...)

I bought everything I needed at Pat Catan's, but I believe you could find all of these items at any craft store.

Supplies:

• Paper-Mache letters, similar here.
• Glue Gun and Gluesticks
• Yarn, I used a flat yarn.  Pat Catan's sells bags of balls of yarn on clearance.  That's where I found mine.  Something similar would Lion Brand's Fettuccini line. I find the flat yarn hid ends and trouble spot better.



Starting the H.  I forgot to the end at the top,
had to go back try to tuck it in and wrap around
the front part of the letter again.

• Something to attach it to the wall.  I bought picture hangers, but my husband wished I had used 3M Strips instead (maybe next time!)

How to:

1. Examine the letter, try to pin point trouble spots.  For instance, the ends of each H.  
2. For the ends cut smaller strips that are 2-3 inches.  Glue the strips on.  I made a line of glue on the front of the letter, then attached each strip.  Then flip the letter over, make a line of glue and attach the other end of the yarn strip.  Trim the strips, but don't worry too much as they will be covered by more yarn.  Repeat for each letter end.  
3. From the back of the letter attach the end of your ball of yarn.  Start wrapping it around and dotting glue as needed.  I always glued the yarn when it reached the back, and would add dots on the sides and front as needed.  When finished wrapping a section, glue and tuck in the end to the back.  It's okay to break wrapping into multiple sections.  With H I started on the bottom left, got to the center, wrapped the whole letter for the middle, and then continued wrapping the the top right.  After that I wrapped middle to make feel more stable and cover the sides.  The I wrapped the bottom right and upper left individually.  
4. Certain letters are easier to do than others.  I think J, I, S, T, D, and Y would be the easiest.  I think N, R, Q, and Z would be the hardest.  Lastly, try to make sure you have the front and back correct.  You don't want to beautifully wrap a letter only to find out its backwards.  
5. Attach your wall hanger, hang it up, and show off your newly completed project!

Next time I make this I'll try and take better pictures, I got into a zone and forget to take more helpful photos.

Completed letters on the wall, trying to still keep some privacy,
but wanted to show the yarn go multiple directions.