A Year for Something New!

Happy new year to everyone! This year is going to be so exciting and I think I'm going to start by showing you how to make a really simple wee owl! The first time I saw one was when my mum gave me it as 'a wee friend to give me wisdom' - no doubt we could all do with a bit of that.

I'm going to make it for a friend and put it in a coordinating matching fabric gift box that you've already seen!

Have a wonderful day today with family, friends or just doing something that you want to!

Little Fabric Box

 




A lovely little fabric box which is 5" square and 2.5" deep.  A lovely keepsake for your special items or indeed you can give it as a gift.  I have made a number of them and you can change the size easily depending on what size of box that you are looking for.

I am normally the kind of person that likes modern fabrics, retro, or American civil war (dark red, dusky blue) that type of thing but when you are making a gift, you need to think of your friend and what they would like - my friend is totally into black, white and bling... so out of my comfort zone but I knew she would love it.

What do you need?

• Cardboard (from a couple of cereal boxes is ideal)
• Mounting  board (a local framer may have some offcuts or you can buy it in sheets at the stationers but make sure its fairly think (a couple of mm/ .25 inch)
• Pencil
• Tracing paper or very light paper or indeed light interfacing (only about a 5 inch square)
• .25 inch ruler - its a normal ruler with a ridge on it that measures quarter of an inch or a pencil will do
• Postcard
• 3 fat quarters (you can get those from your nearest patchwork shop or indeed really easy to get online.  The advantage of going to the shop is that you can ask for advise and see the colours)
• 25cm of cotton wadding/ batting, fairly thin- if you buy more you can always use it for something else
• Double sided tape about a cm in width
• Sticking tape
• Fabric glue
• Stick of glue or similar
• Needle with a medium eye and a medium length
• Pins (long ones with easy heads to grip are best)
• Scissors
• Scalpel or sharp craft knife
• Cutting mat (or board)
• Thread - either a neutral like grey or beige or one to match your fabric is best 

What is a fat quarter?  It's a piece of material that is quarter of a meter square roughly - it will measure around 50 cm x 50cm. Again if you ask in any shop or online you will be able to find what you need... people who like sewing, patchwork and quilting are nearly always keen to help - thankfully!

Lets get on!  If its your first project it might take a while perhaps 12 hours, but with practice and some experience you should be able to complete it in around 6 hours.  Leave time to make it if its for a gift.  Though I have been known to wrap mine while the card is still drying.

1. Cut all the cardboard

First things first, cut up all the cardboard into the relevant sizes - to make a box 5x5" you will need to cut the following:

Cutting the mounting board for the outer box:
1 piece 5 x 5"
4 pieces 5" x 2 1/2"
1 piece 5 1/4" x 5 1/4"
4 pieces 5 1/4" x 1"
 
Next cut the cereal card for the inner box 1/8" smaller than the pieces of mounting board
 
 
 
2. Make the outer box first (to make a patterned top see 3. or indeed just make it plain
 
With the glue stick, attach the wadding to one side of the mounting board, then trim round the edges so that they are flush with the sides of the mounting board.
 
Then cover all the cereal card apart from the ones that are skinny (7/8" wide) as they will not fit into the inside of the lid properly to allow shutting if you put wadding on those.

 

Hint:  If you have writing on your cereal box, put the wadding on the plain side, that way if you have light fabric you won't be able to see the writing through the fabric.

 

Then get your fabric and round your shapes - making sure that the fabric is around 1" bigger than your card.

 

Using double sided tape, fold the fabric over the sides of the card to cover.

 

Hint: cover opposite sides first and that way you are able to get a neat covering of the fabric with no puckering.


 
For the sides of your box - lay all of them in a row with the wadding side down and tape to hold together - then cut around 3/4" around your card and fold - covering again with the fabric using your double sided sticky tape and glue to do the ends

Then using a similar coloured thread to the fabric, sew the edges of your ends together so that you have 2 bendy squares.

 



Note: if you fabric wasn't long enough you just have another edge to sew - I tend to put these opposite each other just to balance them up if I can, if not though it doesn't really matter and you wont see the small stitches you will make anyway.  Best way to stitch is from inside to outside, use a good light so that you can see what you are doing.

3. Fancy pieced topping - easy, a little skill required **

Trace a really simple pattern onto your piece of thin paper/ light interfacing. Number each of the different pieces.  Foundation piecing sounds difficult but its not - just go step by step.

First place a square over your 1 in the middle and line up one number 2, pin in place and sew over along the line taking care not to go longer than that.  Once you have put on the first piece then fold the piece for 2 and smooth along the line to press it.  Then get 3 and do the same - once you've done that do the same for 4, now you need to trim the edges, fold back the tracing paper along the line to reveal your edges and get a postcard to put in between the paper, get your 1/4" ruler and trim the excess.  Then keep doing the same for each piece that you  put on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hint: The pieces always seem to need more fabric than the size the shape looks, when I put my fabric on, I check that it goes over the whole shape when I fold it back.  A good rule for quilting and patchwork - check twice, cut once!

 

 

The quarter inch border marked around the pattern leaves you enough space for a seam to attach the other fabric to get a piece big enough for covering the top, I added black borders and made sure that they made around a 6 inch square in total.  I added material on each side, then on the top and bottom.

 

 

 

 

 

Line up the corners carefully of the bottom and align to the sides, using lots of pins to secure in place then you can use your tiny stitches sewing from the inside of the top and coming out then going back into the box through the side edge.

 

Your outer box should be all covered and sewn together now

 

 



4.  Now for the finale - before covering with fabric, I just slot them in to make sure that they fit snuggly, if they are too tight - trim the smallest sliver off the side and try again until you are comfortable they are a good fit.  Then do the same as you did before to cover the inside box.
 

 

 

 

Once that's done add glue to the cereal card side and carefully starting with the top and bottom slot into the boxes, now for the sides, careful with those sticky pieces and then take a couple of clothes pegs to hold secure whilst it dries.  Then you are finished! 
 

How hard can it be?

So funny, I decided to write this blog to show people, including myself that if you apply yourself - well indeed anything is possible.  So in addition to motivation I need to add determination and focus on the end result, oh and not to forget a little action - then indeed anything is possible!

My first blog post - the rest of them will hopefully show you that you can create anything that you want to and I aim to build your confidence in sewing and creativity, step by step so that you can complete any of my projects that you want, customise them or make your own but do share so that we can all see what wonderful progress you're making!  If you're experienced feel free to add your own tips and ideas.