putting letters together to make words

[dw7178]

I was just wondering if anyone has any tips on how to combine letters from fonts to make words.  I have downloaded some cute fonts and would really like to be able to put them together to make names (without downloading some expensive program to do so).  Any tips or ideas would be GREATLY appreciated.
 

[flutter-by]

I don't have any software tips, but what I did the last time I did a name with downloaded letters was to cut out a square of paper in the size of the letter given.  Then I found the center of each letter (folded the paper in 4ths) and poked through with a pen), then placed them out on the fabric and marked where the center of each letter should go on the fabric and stitched it out one letter at a time.

I'm sure there's a better way to do this, though.