Fabric Alphabet Magnets

When Bill built our baby gate, we decided to use magnetic primer and chalkboard paint on the main panel. Since Caroline is too young to use chalk (I tried it and she shoved it right in her mouth) we're taking advantage of the magnetic feature right now.

I would love to say that I whipped these alphabet magnets up in an hour, but it was a more time consuming project than that. I'd say I spent a total of 10 hours over the course of a few weeks to complete them all. It wasn't hard work, but there are 26 letters!

I started by ironing some heat n bond onto my fabric and using the Silhouette to cut out all of the letters.

Then I ironed some interfacing onto several different fabrics to make them stronger and more durable. I cut the fabric into rectangles and ironed the letters onto the rectangles.

I used a layer of batting to give the letters a little heft and to give the magnets something to grasp. I folded the rectangles in half and sandwiched in the batting with a strong magnet on either side of the batting. I sewed the batting in place on the folded edge and continued to sew around the perimeter of the rectangle. After I finished sewing, I trimmed the fabric and was left with nice, neat magnets.

This basket came from the dollar spot at Target and holds the extra magnets when they're not being used.

Caroline likes to play with them, so it was definitely worth the time and effort. She is especially intrigued by how they stick to each other!

I love the mix of fabrics and the personality that they add to the baby gate. I'll probably make a few more with repeats of letters so we can actually write words like "mom" and "dad." Luckily we can at least write Caroline!

Thanks for reading,

Kathleen