DIY rope alphabet letters
With each day, my daughter Dusty picks up a new trick. I don’t mean to liken her to an intelligent dog; it’s more through parental ‘training’ that she picks up new sounds and words. ‘Thank you’ is ‘dud-doh’. ‘Dad’ is also ‘dud-doh’. Actually, she says her own name and that also is ‘duddoh’, but each ‘dud-doh’ has its own inflection, and we are starting to communicate. This project is aimed to help toddlers learn letters through play. These letters are robust enough to play with, as well as being super cute to hang from a door or wall.
You will need:
- 5m of cotton rope per letter
- Sewing machine with a zigzag stitch
- Sharp scissors
- Pins
- 1m x 1m piece of paper to paint on
- Water-based acrylic paint in your favourite colours
- Small craft paintbrush
- Sharp, strong hand sewing needle
- Thread
Tip: Experiment with different letters. A lowercase B is similar to a lowercase A that has been flipped over with a longer tail. A lowercase C is a long, thin rope coil that has been curved around before sewing together.
How to:
1. Let’s begin with the letter A in lowercase. Untangle your rope and coil it into a small circle, leaving a tail of loose rope. It should resemble the number 9.
2. Place the coil under your needle and slowly start to zigzag stitch the rope together. Secure the rope coil in place by reversing over your stitches a few times. Repeat in a diagonal direction to the first line of stitching.
3. Add to the size of the rope coil by sewing the loose rope to the coil. Be sure that the zigzag stitch captures both the loose rope and the coil as you sew. Continue sewing this coil until it measures 9 cm in diameter. Remove the coil from the sewing machine, cut and set aside. This will be the body of the letter A.
4. Take another length of rope. Take one end of the rope and fold it (approximately 7 cm/2¾ in lengthwise) onto itself. Using the same technique in step 3, slowly begin to zigzag stitch the loose rope to the thin oblong-shaped coil. Continue sewing this oblong coil until it measures 10 cm (4 in) in length. Remove the oblong coil from the sewing machine, cut and set aside. This is the tail of the letter A.
5. Arrange the body and tail of your letter A into a nice, recognisable shape on your work space. Pin it in place and using a zigzag stitch, carefully stitch the two shapes together. Hide away any loose ends of rope by sewing them into the joins of the shapes.
6. Place your letter on the square of paper and coat it in thick acrylic paint. Set aside to dry.
7. Using the sewing needle and some thread, sew a loop through the back of your letter (you will have to push your sewing needle through the layers of dried paint, so push firmly). This is what you will use to attach your letter to the wall. This step is optional.
This is an edited extract from Roped In by Gemma Patford published by Hardie Grant Books RRP $29.99 and is available in stores nationally.