BellaOnline Forums Hobbies and Crafts Quilting Beginner quilter needs help with stencil making

I have made a few quilts some I have machine quilted with my little machine working hard, and others I've sent off to be long armed. only one was hand stitched. However, I'm making a special quilt for my son and I want to hand stitch a letter on each large square, the letter will be a "gothic" script and I would like them to be identical on each block. I assume i need to make a stencil, but don't know how or what to make it out of, what might be reusable, etc. I've done paper piecing before and the thought of stitching the paper to the quilt and tearing it away after concerns me with pulling stitches and stuff. ANY IDEAS? ANY ONE DONE THIS BEFORE CAN OFFER A NEWBIE A HELPING HAND/IDEA? Thanks so much!

Hi Hpiner, welcome to our quilting forum. I've used templastic to make stencils, using a very sharp craft knife.

Come on, quilters, can you help Hpiner with her problem?

Cheerio for now

The best suggestion I can think of is to buy those alphabet stencils. Trace the letters on printing paper, one letter on each piece of paper, in the center. Then enlarge each letter on a copier to the size you want.

Then, using the templastic transfer the letters to the plastic and cut out the part inside the letter. It will be the same as the small letter on the alpha template you bought, only in a much larger size.

Doing it this way will give uniformity to the size and style of the letters.

Thanks so much. At Joann's I found something under the name Quilters Thick Plastic. I guess that is similar? It looks ideal for my needs. I didn't see Templastic. I guess I can pin it in place to quilt? Thank you, Heather PS. Is there special thread for quilting? I see old quilts sometimes and it almost looks like string rather than thread. Can anyone recommend a good beginner book to cover these bases. I'm sure you all are looking at these questions and wondering what turnip truck I fell off of!

You are most welcome!

When I need help with quilting, I turn to Nancy:
Sewing With Nancy - quilting

There is a special quilting thread that is best to use for strength and ease of sewing. Check out the tabs on the Sewing Notions page at Nancy's Notions.

Good luck!

I have the book called: Quilts! Quilts! Quilts!: The complete guide to Quiltmaking by McClun and Nownes

I am not sure you can pin the template material to the fabric, but you could certainly tape it while you trace the letters.
It sounds like a lovely idea, enjoy the process.

Great idea Maureen, another good idea is to use a sandpaper surface to lay the fabric on, and then trace the letters. The sandpaper keeps the fabric from moving and makes it easier to trace around the stencil. Let us know how you get on.
Cheerio for now