I made a BOX!

I made a box! 

Yes, I think that's worth getting excited about. 

I wanted 4 boxes that would fit perfectly in Luke's IKEA Expedit shelves. They needed to be durable, collapsable (so that they would fold flat when we move next) and I wanted them to be made from the fabric that coordinates with his bedding. 

I looked online for a tutorial that was exactly what I wanted, but I couldn't find one.  The tutorials from Sew4Home and Make It-Love It each had qualities that I liked, so I combined the two to make my perfect box.  

Here's my tutorial... I do suggest looking at the tutorials for Sew4Home and Make It-Love It as well. They did such a great job explaining the process (and have some great 3D graphics that describe the process very well) that it made it easy for me to create my own box.  This tutorial makes a box that is 12" x 12" x 12".

1. Cut your fabric.  You'll need...

        

INSIDE Fabric:  50" long by 19" tall

OUTSIDE Fabrics:  

      Border Fabric on the top (50" x 7")

      Main Fabric on the bottom (50" x 14.5")

BASE Fabric: 25" x 12"

2.  Fold down the top 1/2" of your border fabric and sew about 3/8" down from the fold. 

3. Line up the unfinished ends of the BORDER fabric and MAIN fabric.  Sew them together using a 3/8" seam allowance.  Once these are sewn together, iron the seam flat.  I trimmed the excess fabric with my pinking shears. 

4. Sew together the short side of your OUTSIDE fabrics to create a circle. Iron the seam flat.  (You'll need the "right side" of the fabric to be touching)

5. Repeat set #4 with the INSIDE fabric piece and iron the seam flat.  (You'll need the right side of the fabric to be touching)

6. Flip the OUTSIDE fabric tube so that the right side of the fabric is facing out. (Exactly as it will look when the box is finished)

7. Stuff the INSIDE fabric tube within the OUTSIDE tube and line up the seams and bottom of the tubes.

8. Pin the seams together and sew inside the seam (a.k.a. "Stitch in the ditch)

9. Now your INSIDE and OUTSIDE fabrics have become one tube.  With the seam on the LEFT, iron the fabric and create a crease on the RIGHT that will become a guideline for the next seams you'll be sewing. 

10. Draw a line down the crease you just created (Using disappearing ink)

11. Draw two lines... 6 1/8" to the LEFT and RIGHT of the crease & the "stitch in the ditch" seam. 

This is what your fabric will look like once it's marked. 

12.  Sew along each line that you've just drawn.  *Only sew through two layers of fabric, not all four. When you are finished with this step, you'll have a tube that has 6 pockets (Eventually the cardboard sides of the box will slip into these pockets)

13. Measure and Draw a line 6 1/2" up from the bottom of the tube. 

14.  Sew along the line.  *Only sew through two layers of fabric when doing this step. When you are finished, the tube should still be open. 

15. Turn your tube inside out and sew along the bottom edge of the tube. *Sew through all four layers of fabric about 3/8" from the bottom. 

16. Pull the corners out and sew from the LEFT seam to the RIGHT seam. 

17. Cut off the excess corner fabric. 

18. Turn the fabric inside out and stuff cardboard pieces into the pockets you created. 

Cardboard pieces cut list... 

(4 pieces) 6" by 12"

(3) 12" by 12"

*I used the cardboard from the crib box to make all 4 boxes in Luke's room. Reduce.Reuse.Recycle! And, to make the cardboard cutting process faster, I traced a 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper. That way I knew that the all the pieces were square and had 90 degree corners. 

19. After you've placed the cardboard pieces into all 6 pockets, fold the remaining BORDER fabric down and hot glue the BORDER fabric to the INSIDE of the box.

20. Create a coordinating cover for the cardboard piece that will go in the bottom of your box.  I stitched a 12"x12" square that was open on one side.

21.  Slide the 12"x12" cardboard piece inside the pocket, fold the rough edges inside and sew the open side shut. 

22. Slide your covered cardboard piece into the bottom of your box. *This piece covers up all the unfinished seams that were created when you cut off the triangles of excess fabric.

Done!