How To Embroider Block Letters – 5 Creative Ideas
Block letters are a favorite for adding monograms to sweaters, stitching a favorite quote, and countless other projects. By incorporating them into your designs, you can create impressive looking embroidery pieces. In this post, I’ll guide you through the process of designing block letters, transferring them onto fabric, and exploring 5 creative embroidery techniques to bring them to life.
How To Embroider Block Letters
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Supplies Needed
- Embroidery hoop
- Embroidery needle
- 6 Strand cotton embroidery floss – Amazon
- 6 strand variegated floss – Etsy
- cotton or linen fabric
- pencil or water soluble pen – Amazon
Where To Find Fonts
You can of course design your own lettering (check out this course, Hand Lettering In Procreate to learn how!) but if you’re looking for some nice block letters and you don’t want the hassle of figuring out how to draw them, I would recommend printing them off from Canva.
Canva has so many different display fonts that have block letters you can reference. Search for “display” or “serif” fonts to find some good ones. (For this example, I used “Troye Serif”.)
Once you’ve found a font you like, create a “letter” size document and size the letters to your liking. I like to make them outlined instead of solid black. To do this, click on the letter, go to “effects” and click on the “hollow” effect. Now, the letters will be outlined which will be easy to print out or trace onto the fabric.
P.S. If you’d like to follow along with each of the letters, you can print off the letters I used in this tutorial here! The design fits in a 6 inch hoop.
Transferring the Designs
The easiest way to transfer the letters to fabric is by tracing them. Print off the letters, tape the paper to a sunny window, and place your hooped fabric against the window. Then using a pencil or water soluble pen, trace them onto the fabric.
Helpful tip: make sure that you have the fabric lined up nicely in the hoop (the grain of the fabric sits parallel and perpendicular to the top screw of the hoop). This will help you achieve straighter lines and it will help you achieve a nicer finished look. You’ll also want to double check that you didn’t over stretch your fabric which could distort the letters.
Video Tutorial
Outline Stitches
The simplest way to embroider block letters would be to use a variety of outline stitches.
For this example, I will be using a stem stitch. I like the rope-like appearance it creates, especially for letters. And to make things even more interesting, I decided to use variegated floss for this letter. It will add a nice subtle pop of color to it.
Step 1: Start at the top of one of the lines of the letter. Make a stitch along the outline.
Step 2: Pull the thread almost all the way through, but keep it off to the left side. Then come up through the fabric again with your needle in the middle of the stitch.
Step 3: Pull the working thread through. Then skip a stitch length ahead and make another stitch along the line.
Step 4: Pull the thread almost all the way through, keeping the working thread off to the left again. Come up at the base of the first stitch you made.
Repeat steps 3 and 4 all the way down the line.
If there is a sharp angle or two lines that intersect, it’s easiest to end the line of stitches there and start along the next line. This will make the lines more defined and it will also prevent you from trailing the thread along the backside of the embroidery.
Satin Stitch Letters
Satin stitch letters just look so clean and flashy! This stitch is notorious for being challenging to get nice and smooth, and it can be a bit confusing to people when stitched along curves and irregular shapes, which is why I chose the letter B for this one.
It’s helpful to outline the letter first with a split stitch. This will provide a nice guideline for your satin stitches which will make the edges more neat. it will also give a little bit of padding to the letter which will make the stitches appear a little bit more prominent on fabric.
Step 1: To make a split stitch, make a single stitch along the line. (I am using 2 strands for this stitch)
Step 2: Then come up with your needle through the middle of the stitch.
Step 3: Make another stitch.
Step 4: Then repeat steps 2 and 3 all the way down the line. Outline the entire letter this way.
Step 5: Next, we’ll fill the letter in with a satin stitch. Using 3 or 4 strands of thread, make a stitch across the width of the shape you want to fill in. This stitch should go over top of the split stitches.
Step 6: Continue making stitches across the shape. If you are having a hard time getting them straight, lay the working thread across the shape and make a stitch directly above it.
Step 7: Work your way down the shape until it’s completely filled in.
Step 8: Now, let’s stitch along the curved lines of the letter B. Filling in curves is easiest when you space out the stitches along the shape before completely filling it in. The stitches should gently fan out along the shape.
Step 9: Go back through, filling in the gaps in the stitches. It’s okay if the stitches slightly overlap; you just want to make sure they are densely filling the shape in.
Step 10: Repeat steps 8 and 9 for the bottom of the B.
And here is what it looks like filled in!
If this stitch feels like a bit of a struggle, don’t get discouraged! Everyone has a hard time with it at first. Check out this post for even more satin stitch tips.
Ombre Letters With The Long and Short Stitch
If you want to create an ombre effect, the long and short stitch is the one you’ll want to use. You can blend colors together seamlessly with this technique! Choose 2 or 3 different shades of colors for this stitch. For this example, I used a dark red, medium red, and light red color.
Step 1: Start at the base of the shape using the darkest color. Begin making long and short stitches along the shape.
Step 2: Fill in about 1/3 of the shape with this color.
Step 3: Then start using the medium red color, overlapping the stitches into the darker color to blend the 2 together.
Step 4: Fill in another 1/3 of the shape this way.
Step 5: Using the light red color, fill in the rest of the shape. Again, make sure that you overlap the stitches into the medium red color to blend them.
Step 6: Fill in the rest of the top of the letter.
Step 7: Then fill in the bottom of the letter with dark red.
Floral Letters
Floral embroidery letters are a favorite for many people, so I had to include them as an idea. Embroider them on clothes or accessories to add a fun customization to things you wear everyday!
For this example, I’ll show you how you can fill them in mostly freehand using a few embroidery stitches that work great for flowers.
To fill in these letters, I like to make sure that the stitches and colors look balanced as I go, but I don’t usually plan them out beforehand. I believe it turns out more natural and interesting looking when you just go with the flow!
Step 1: To start, I filled in the letter with some lazy daisy stitches using 3 strands of green variegated floss. I made them go in all different directions so they looked more natural.
Step 2: Next, I used 2 strands of floss to add some little French knots.
Step 3: Next I added some long and short stitches using 3 strands of gold thread to fill in more of the negative space.
Step 4: The rest of the space I filled in with more French knots using the variegated green floss.
This is just one way; I have another post that shows you how to design and stitch a floral alphabet embroidery.
Abstract Letters
You can create lots of texture by utilizing a variety of different embroidery stitches to fill in the thick parts of letters.
This is another way to embroider letters that is very freeform and fun to do.
Step 1: To make a bit of a pattern to follow, I drew some different lines across the thick part of the letter to create some squares and triangles.
Step 2: First I filled in some of the triangles with the satin stitch using 3 strands of pink floss. I played with different stitch directions to add more texture.
Step 3: Next I filled in more of the shapes with French knots.
Step 4: Finally, I filled in the rest of the letter with more French knots, satin stitches, and back stitches.
I stuck with very basic stitches for most of these examples, but the opportunities are endless when it comes to embroidering thick letters! Take a look at some more embroidery fill stitches to give you even more ideas for filling them in. Or visit Wandering Threads’ helpful post that has even more ideas for large letters.
Block Letter Embroidery Patterns
Where stitches bloom like garden roses, may your creativity also flourish!
Amanda is a hand embroidery teacher and artist. With over 15 years of experience in the craft industry and embroidery, she owns and runs Crewel Ghoul, sharing accessible tutorials and patterns to help inspire fellow crafters to get creative. In addition to running this website, she teaches on Skillshare and Youtube.
