Most of the posts thus far have been about activities and crafts you can do WITH your kids. Or things your kids can do to give you some space. Here is a project you can do with some of that space! And the bonus? Once it’s done, you’ll have some storage space to help get your house organized.
I made mine for fabric scraps. I have WAAAYY too many that I just can’t get rid of, and I do use them occasionally. But I was storing them in plastic bags and packed away in diaper boxes. So not cute. I took those diaper boxes and a few scraps and made this super cute storage box! And you can use it for kids’ toys, crafting materials, art supplies etc. The size box I used was a perfect fit for my Ikea shelf meant to hold those expensive canvas boxes.
So here’s what you’ll need
Supplies:
Cardboard Box with top flaps cut off
Enough fabric to cover the box
some scrap fabric for letters
Tools:
Hot Glue Gun
Measuring tape
Scissors
Fabric Marker or Chalk
Sewing Machine (if you want to do the fabric letter applique)
- Start by measuring your box and fabric. You should have enough to wrap around the perimeter of the box, plus 2 inches. Then enough to cover the bottom, plus one inch or so. I was gifted a bunch of flannel by a friend and decided to use it for this project. I’m always scared to try new things with freshly bought material, but free material with no other purpose was perfect! It turned out to work perfectly for this, but you can use any cotton blend, muslin, really anything that’s easy to work with.
- I’ve seen other tutorials that made a complicated x shape to fold up and over the box. But I HATE waster material, and I liked the smooth edges this technique gave. Wrap the material and judge what will be your front. Mark the edges.
- Choose scraps for your letters, if you’re using them, then cut them out. I free handed mine, but you can always use a stencil.
- Take the fabric and the letters to your machine and set it to the zigzag stitch setting. Then lay your first letter down on the edge of your front marks. I really liked working with flannel for this, because it sticks to itself so well I didn’t have to bother with pins!
- Follow the foot around the letters. Your goal is to have the zig on the outside of the letter, and the zag near the inside. That didn’t always happen, but I thought I did pretty good for my first applique! Depending on the letter, you’ll have to do a lot of stopping to turn and smooth your material. I hated this letter S!
- I opted not to do “SCRAPS” for two reasons. My box was short and the second S wouldn’t fit unless I made the letters smaller. And I hated doing that S!
- Bring your fabric back to the box and hot glue it around. I started with the letter side first to make sure it was centered, then worked to an edge.
- You should have one extra inch come just over one edge like this.
- Then bring the rest of the fabric around to cover it. Fold the last edge under itself before gluing to avoid the rough edge.
- Fold the edges around the bottom of the box Christmas Wrapping Style. Then cover with the square of fabric. You can fold the edges before gluing like we did earlier, but I wasn’t worried about fraying with this fabric.
And you’re done! You can double fold the top edges, or cut them even with the box and let them fray. You can even get fancy and add some brocade or ribbon! Since we used hot glue, you can start using your storage box immediately.
Show me your pictures if you make one! I want to know how they turned out and what you used them for!