I ditched school work today in favour of some crafting :)
Here is my creation; A fabric box made using an old pillow case and some cardboard!
I started with a plain white pillow case from the thrift store. We live in a tourist town, so lots of plain white hotel linens end up at the thrift store. Woo-hoo!
I trimmed off the band at the open end of the pillow case and later used it as a handle on the box.
I then sat the pillow case on the counter to create a flat base. I rolled down the top part so that I could see the corners. It's exactly how I made the tiny fabric box in this post.
I then marked straight lines across the corners...
Difficult to see the pencil marks, but they're there!
Then I sewed along the pencil lines.
The triangular flaps were long enough to sew together, so I did :)
Here you can see the box standing up, but it has no support.
Inside of the box...
(note: this is a great time to attach a handle to the box. The band I cut off at the beginning worked well - but I forgot to take photos of this step! I also should have ironed it, but didn't realize how crinkled the finished box would look.)
To give it some support, I used some cardboard I had lying around.
I made a box shape using the cardboard...
... Then stretched the pillow case around it...
... Then shoved the base to the bottom and hid all the rough edges.
I glued the excess pillow case (the raw edge from taking off the band) back up inside the box. I then glued the base of the box around the bottom edge to keep everything in place.
Here it is looking tidy-ish:
Ta-da!
Inside the box:
I saw some similar boxes at Home Hardware for $7 each, but this one took me 25 minutes to make and cost me $1.50.
And because it is plain white, it's a blank canvas to decorate. Flowers, accent fabrics, labels... the possibilities are endless. How would you decorate it?
Happy crafting!
Here is my creation; A fabric box made using an old pillow case and some cardboard!
I trimmed off the band at the open end of the pillow case and later used it as a handle on the box.
I then sat the pillow case on the counter to create a flat base. I rolled down the top part so that I could see the corners. It's exactly how I made the tiny fabric box in this post.
I then marked straight lines across the corners...
Difficult to see the pencil marks, but they're there!
Then I sewed along the pencil lines.
The triangular flaps were long enough to sew together, so I did :)
Here you can see the box standing up, but it has no support.
Inside of the box...
(note: this is a great time to attach a handle to the box. The band I cut off at the beginning worked well - but I forgot to take photos of this step! I also should have ironed it, but didn't realize how crinkled the finished box would look.)
To give it some support, I used some cardboard I had lying around.
I made a box shape using the cardboard...
... Then stretched the pillow case around it...
Here it is looking tidy-ish:
Ta-da!
The bottom of the box:
Inside the box:
I saw some similar boxes at Home Hardware for $7 each, but this one took me 25 minutes to make and cost me $1.50.
And because it is plain white, it's a blank canvas to decorate. Flowers, accent fabrics, labels... the possibilities are endless. How would you decorate it?
Happy crafting!
This is a wonderful idea! I hope you'll stop over and share this creative project at Mix it up Monday:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flourmewithlove.com/2012/03/mix-it-up-monday_18.html
I hope to see you soon :)
Sounds great! I'll try to remember to stop by :)
DeleteI'm so happy that you got a chance to stop by! Thanks so much for sharing at Mix it up Monday :)
DeleteShirley said:
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea. What was the dimension of the box?
Hi there!
ReplyDeleteThe finished product is 9" tall x 9" wide x 10.5" deep.
I think the width of the pillowcase was 20", and with the birds-eye perimeter of the box being 39", it gives 1" leeway for stretching.
The box could have been taller, but I wanted it to fit on some shelves with a height of 10".
Very clever.
ReplyDeleteI've seen these at the Dollar General for a pretty small one (ON CLEARANCE EVEN)they were $3...holy cow, you saved yourself some moo-la!
Pat
Hi Pat!
ReplyDeleteYou're right - I've seen very similar ones. The only down side is that this version is not easily collapsible. Although seeing as there is no rigid bottom to it, I am sure I could just squish the cardboard flat...
So cool! I really wish I had a sewing machine here! Thanks for linking up to A Pinteresting Party this week. :)
ReplyDeleteThat is really, really clever! I am impressed!
ReplyDeleteNice Job.
ReplyDeleteSince my newest "thing" is white on white on white, I would leave it well.....white! Did I mention I LOVE this?
ReplyDeletethese are genius - i had a go at making one, he turned out a bit wonky so it'll be trying again - picture on my blog http://abimakes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/pillow-case-boxes.html
ReplyDeleteYou could have even used another piece of cardboard covered with another pillow case at the bottom on the inside for more support ~ just a thought~
ReplyDeleteBrilliant!
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