Thursday, March 5, 2015

Pieced Alphabet







Part 1

I thought it was time I shared another pieced alphabet with you. Starting with the first 6 letters.

The grid indicates size.

If the squares are 1/2" x 1/2", then the A is 4 1/2" x 7 1/2".

You might chose a different grid size.


Most of the piecing is straightforward.








However, you may be wondering about the right hand side of the B. How do you make strips with triangles?
The process is the same one you use to make binding strips. You place two pieces together at right angles; sew them together on the diagonal; then cut a 1/4" seam allowance.

Do this twice to get a triangle.



You may have noticed that the E and F are slightly narrower than the other letters.

This is so they will visually look the same width as the other letters.

The second word shows the E and F when they are physically the same width as the other letters.

Notice how the E looks bigger than the C and D.

Notice how the F seems to be pulling away from the A.


Making these two letters narrow makes them appear consistent with the other letters even though they're not.



More tomorrow.....

3 comments:

  1. Kat ScribnerMarch 6, 2015 at 6:12 AM

    What an excellent post! and a great alphabet set in the making.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Darlene SchragMarch 6, 2015 at 9:19 AM

    A quick question.... In the piecing diagrams, it shows two grid squares to the left of the letter, but on the word example (FACED) it looks like only one grid between the letters. So the question.... am I seeing the right or is it an optical illusion. thanks for the post... I have several ideas already brewing to use these letters.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wayne KollingerMarch 6, 2015 at 10:35 AM

    Darlene

    The grid is meant to indicate letter size and not spacing.

    In the examples the spacing between letters is actually slightly greater than the width of a grid square. Except that the spacing between the F and A is slightly less than a grid square.

    Like the width of a letter, the space between letters depends on how it looks. Does it look consistent? Not, is it consistent?

    In the case of this alphabet I would suggest that one grid square between most letters would work just fine. There is what typographers some times call a rhythm created by the verticals in this alphabet and that spacing conforms to that rhythm.

    In the case of the F & A they would be better even closer than I show them as long as they don't touch.

    You may be wondering why I didn't use the spacing that I'm recommending. The size of the letters affects the spacing as well.
    In this post they are relatively small. In a quilt they will be much larger. When they are small they need more space so they don't look bunched up. When they are large they need less space so that they don't look spread out.

    I would be delighted to see what you come up with using this alphabet.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)