Hand-Woven Text Effect

In this tutorial you will learn how to construct a piece of typography in a cute hand-woven style using fabric textures, in Photoshop. 

For the background we will use a denim texture which can be downloaded at hight resolution here.

Once you have opened your texture in photoshop, use the Colour Balance image adjustment to tweak the colours a little.

Now place your next texture into your document which you can downloadhere. Rotate it so that the weave is at a diagonal angle.

Rasterize your texture layer then make an oval selection with the Marquee tool, then invert the selection and delete it.

Use the Hue/Saturation adjustment to desaturate it, and increase the lightness.

Double click on this layer to bring up it’s Layer Style options. First apply a Drop Shadow using the settings shown above (the shadow is a dark grey)…

…Then apply a Bevel and Emboss using the settings shown above, and click OK.

Now duplicate this layer, and increase the scale of the copied layer, which should be positioned below the first one.

In this new layer apply a Drop Shadow with the settings shown above (the shadow should be a very dark blue)…

..A Bevel and Emboss with the settings shown above…

…And a white Color Overlay.

The result should look like the example above.

Next we will add a frayed edge to the white backing. Choose a large, rough black brush…

… and add a layer mask to the layer.

In the layer mask use small, uneven strokes to paint away the edge of the layer.

The result should look like the example above.

Now we will add the stitches.

First create a white oval shape slightly smaller than the top texture, we will use this as a guide for drawing the stitches.

In a new layer use a 30px brown brush to paint on the stitches, using the edge of the oval as a guide.

Next double click on the stitches layer, and apply a drop Shadow using the settings shown above (the shadow is a dark brown).

And apply a Bevel and Emboss using the settings shown above.

You can now delete the white oval guide.

Next we will add the text, so create a text box and choose the settings shown above. You can download the BubbleGum font here.

Type a name or whatever text you like, then apply the following Layer Styles…

Your text should end up looking like the example above. We will also add some texture to this text using a carpet texture that can be downloaded here.

Place the texture above your text layer, and desaturate it.

Right click on the texture layer to add a clipping mask, then change it’s blending mode to Multiply, and it’s Opacity to 60%.

Now duplicate the text layer, and adjust the settings to those shown above (un-bold, zero letter spacing, use a lighter colour).

Rasterize the text so it can be edited further.

Use the magic want tool to select each letter, then line it up with the corresponding letter below.

Now we want to shrink the letters a little, so choose Contract…

…and set it to 12 pixels.

Now we will add a fur texture to the letters which can be downloaded here.

Desaturate the texture and add a pink Solid Color adjustment layer above it. Set it’s blending mode to Color, and add a clipping mask.

Now merge the texture with the letters, and apply the following Layer Styles…

Next add a layer mask to the layer.

In the layer mask choose a black 40px brush and go around the edges of the text to create an uneven look.

And finally add a Gaussian Blur set to 2.5 to soften the fur texture.

Next we will create the bumble bee. Start with a black oval for the body…

…Then use the Pen tool to draw the stinger, and the Line tool to add the legs.

Use two white ovals for the wings, and use the Stroke layer style shown above to give them a black border.

You can now merge the body, stinger, legs, and wing layers together.

In a new layer above the bee, create a yellow oval.

Use the same fluff texture from earlier, this time using the Hue/Saturation box to turn it yellow.

Add a clipping mask, then merge the two layers.

So now you have a layer for the bee’s body, and separate layer for it’s yellow fur on top.

Add a layer mask to the fur layer, then use a small black brush to mask around the edges, and to create the stripes, the eyes and the mouth.

Then add the following layer styles to the fur layer…

And then add a Gaussian Blur.

Now select the bee’s body layer, and add a layer mask. With a grey brush, mask out the inside of the wings, making them transparent.

And add the following layer styles to the bee’s body layer…

With the bee finished, we will now give it a trail.

In a new layer use a pink brush to draw a curly line, this will act as a guide.

Then, in a new layer paint the stitches with a small black brush. Once you have finished you can delete the pink guide layer, and add the following layer styles to the stitches layer…

Finally add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer above all the other layers and bring the saturation up to around 25.

Your layers panel should end up looking a little like the one below.

Here are some more examples using different textures…

Thanks for reading!

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