DIY Felt Movable Alphabet

DIY FELT MOVABLE ALPHABETS or MA is a Montessori material used for writing.

I decided to DIY this because it looked fun to do. Boy, I was wrong. Haha. It took a lot of research and resources for me to get what I wanted. I could’ve just bought an MA but it’s one of those that I wasn’t so sure we needed the wooden set. My reasons are:

1. For me, it was expensive since I wanted cursive and the one I wanted needs to be shipped from Europe. Haha. Emphasis on the “I” because it’s just me who wants it. For sure Buddy doesn’t care much.
2. I wanted it to look a certain way. With shorter tails touching and looking like hand writings rather than those that look like separate letters.
3. We don’t have enough space to store it.
4. I always think about how I’ll get a replacement or fix it if it breaks.
5. I just knew there was a cheaper way.

So I googled DIY MAs and the felt ones made sense for me. It’s not my original idea, there are lots who have come before me 😅

But also, I would never do this if I didn’t have a cutting machine. It probably will take so much time to cut these by hand and in the end won’t be worth the effort vs buying. With that, the tools I used are:

1. Cricut cutting machine, please know there’s a lot of things that comes with it to operate. Mats, needles, etc! Plus it takes a lot of trial and error to get a good outcome, so pay what’s fair for those who diy “even if you just use a machine”.
2. Hard felt- I used 2mm thick felt because that’s what my machine can handle. I would’ve wanted a 3mm thick felt so it’s more sturdy. So if you’ll have this custom-made ask for a 3mm thick felt in blue and red.
3. Heat n bond – As backing and for bonding the felt. Makes it less prone to unraveling plus the cutting machine required it so. Haha
4. An iron – lol not the charcoal one but any iron for the backing and for ironing folds in the felt.
5. Pattern and font – I bought my font D’nelian cursive and used the Cricut Design space to make the pattern.
   

Lastly, a lot of patience and time. Haha! I’m sure some can do it easily. I just got caught up in the details so it took me a long time to finish this. But tada! Now I can just cut if we need more letters, or if one breaks.

How did I do it?

Not by hand. I used a Cricut machine to cut. I downloaded the font, arranged that via Cricut Design space, and the machine cut for me. You can google – DIY FELT MOVABLE ALPHABET for other ways to do it.

If you decide to buy, a disclaimer- please research or ask the store how many per letters are included. I saw several stores selling a set with 1 letter each! Ooops!

There you go. Hope it helps!