

The second optiom is to create a copy of the text and use the Outset option to create an "outline" behind the text.

However, the stroke fills both the inside and outside of your text, so if you use a large thickness it can end up looking as shown in the first example shown below. One is to simply use the stroke option and set the stroke to whatever number thickness you want. There are three methods that I know of for creating an outline around text in Inkscape. Although I am using text here this basically can apply to objects you create in Inkscape as well. A little, basic tutorial showing how I go about creating a simple text design in Inkscape and add a texture/pattern to the text design using GIMP.
