DIY Giant Fringe Letters

Last month I needed a fun photo prop for our Kendra Scott Event. Immediately I knew this was a good opportunity for some giant fringe letters! Because who doesn’t love big ol fun fringy letters?!

Plus, I have had these awesome fringe making scissors burning a hole in my crafty little pockets. I knew this was as good of a chance as any to break them in! I am in love with how they turned out and today I am sharing with you everything that you need to know so that you can make some giant letters of your own for whatever celebration you have!

DIY Giant Fringe Letter Supplies

• 2 Large pieces of cardboard. I used some old moving boxes that I was saving for a rainy day craft project but any type of leftover Amazon box will do!
• Scissors – for this project, I actually used two pairs, a normal pair of scissors and my fancy schmancy fringe cutting ones like this. (If you dont have fringe scissors, then herb cutting scissors can take the place in a pinch!)
• Crepe Paper – I used Pink & Red from a paper flower craft we did last year
• Packing Tape – I always pick up supplies like this at the dollar store!
• Exacto knife or box cutter
• Hot Glue Gun & Glue – I use a high temp gun because I work fast but low temp would work as well.
• L Ruler – This is an example of an L Ruler but I picked mine up for a whopping dollar at the Dollar Store!
• Sharpie Marker

The best part of this project is that you should have most of this around your house!

Skill level: Beginner!

Total Cost: Because I had most of my supplies this only cost me $2.16 at the Dolloar store for my packing tape and L Ruler.

Step One. Gather your supplies!

I like to lay everything out so that I know I have what I need. It took me about 3 hours to put these together. If you are trying to do several letters, give yourself plenty of time so that you are party ready!!

Step two. Cut your templates!

Lay out your cardboard so that you can cut an identical front and back pieces for each letter. (Remember, we are making 3D letter forms so we need to have a front and back.) I cut my templates for the X & O two pieces at a time but you can cut them one at a time. Just make sure that they are identical!

To do this, draw out your template for the front of the letter. Then use your Exacto knife or box cutter and using a hard surface, get to cutting!

Each letter will be different so you will need to determine what you need for your template. I like to draw all of my letters that I am using out at the same time. Then you can set them side by side to make sure they are approximatly the same size.

Remember you are also going to be cutting out pieces to go around the sides. So make sure you have enough cardboard to go around.Pro Tip: The side pieces are going to determine how deep your letters are. I like to keep mine 3 – 5 inches wide.

For the X you will need 1 front piece, 1 back piece, 8 side pieces, and 4 end pieces.

The O was a little trickier because there aren’t any hard lines on the side. So cut out 1 front, 1 back, and 10-15 small rectangles for the sides in different heights – make sure the widths are the same since we want the depth of the letter to be the same . Don’t worry, this is where the scotch tape comes in handy!

Step three. Start Taping!

Once your templates are all cut out, now we can start putting the pieces together. I start by laying the top piece on top of the back piece. Starting in one corner, I put a small piece of tape on the side piece and wedged it between the top and the bottom. Then I use tape to hold it together. Continue to do this all the way around until you have a 3D version of your letter.

When you are working with letters or numbers with curved sides, you have to get a little creative! But this is where I just use more tape! For the O you cut out smaller rectangles. This will let you have a little more flexibility! For each side piece that you put in, place a piece of tape at the top and the bottom.

Step four. More Tape, Please!

I like for my letters to be strong. After all I want these to be fun for people to pose with and not worry about them falling apart if they get tossed on the ground.

So I take scotch tape and cover up any places where two sides come together. This will ensure that these babes can party all night long! For the O we actually ended up taping over the entire sides to ensure that the side pieces stay in place. It also gives us a better work area for our next step!

Step five. Cover the back and sides!

This is where the hot glue and regular scissors come in handy. You will want to cut a second template out of your crepe paper. Cut this version out with about 1/2 an inch larger than the letters.

Start to lay your crepe paper over the back side of your letter. Use the excess paper to fold over the sides of the letter. Hot glue these down.

Now move to the sides. Line the back side flush against the edge and hot glue around. Once you have completed that, move to the front edge and pull the extra around the front of the letter. Hot glue here. I used a little bit of tape here around the edges to hold down corners.

Step six. Get fringy!

It’s time to cut out strips of fringe! I started by cutting my crepe paper in 2.5-inch strips. I started out with 20 strips of each color and then used my fringe scissors. I cut about 1/2 way up the strip, leaving approx a 1inch top piece that was not cut to use as my base.

Pro Tip: This step can be done at any time prior to this so if you feel like taking a break from working on your3D form, this is a great task to do while taking a break with a glass of wine!

Step seven. Add the fringe to your forms!

Now we get to do the fun stuff! Start at the bottom of your 3d form and start adding strips of cut fringe. Measure each piece before putting this on to make sure that it goes all the way across. Then tape or glue (or do a combo of the two like I did) each strip.

For letters like X, you will want to do a full arm of the letter facing one way but leave the center undone. Then do the other arm facing the other way but continue to layer the fringe all through this side, covering up the side.

For letters like O, you will just start at the bottom and start attaching them till you reach the top.

For my letters, I made sure that I placed each piece where the red base was meeting the next red piece so that under the fringe was a solid color. This also helps make it denser and we all know that more fringe is always better!

Step eight. Party like a rockstar!

Now all that’s left to do is bring these babes out at your party and get ready to see everyone strike a pose! We had a blast with our X&O for Galentines Day and we can’t wait to make more!

xoxo Cory