Challenge No. 20 Submission - Fabric Covered Holiday Storage Boxes - Tutorial

May I introduce you to my newest storage solution? These are fabric covered boxes, made to hold holiday decorations. The idea is for the contents to be obvious by the box "decor" ... It seem to be forming a habit of making some craft for each holiday and they didn't really have a place, and everything needs a place. So, I decided to give new life to some old shoe / gift boxes by covering them in cute fabrics.

Which holidays do you think these boxes represent?

Pink & red = Valentine's Day, and

Red white & blue = Memorial Day & 4th of July!

They are big enough to hold all those random holiday trinkets (like the stuff from the dollar bin at Target that I cannot help but go to).  



nice & tidy corner!



You see, part of my laundry room is really organized but part is not. For months, I've been shoving stuff on the shelves. In my recent spring cleaning / organizing mode, I couldn't handle it anymore.  I decided I wanted boxes that made it obvious what was inside.

If you like them too, then please vote for this in our challenge! And if you want to make your own, just keep reading :)

I think it'd be fun to embellish with ribbon, buttons, etc and use them for gift boxes (like for a new baby, or a wedding present). Here are a couple of other ideas for these boxes (I'll probably do some of these as my spring cleaning fit continues to plague me):

• boxes for Christmas cards (for each year, with the year on the box)
• boxes to hold gifts / box as the gift.
• boxes for each year of child's life (mark it w/ the number) ... to hold cards, pics, etc.

I made medium sized boxes, but for larger boxes (like the kind you buy in an office supply store) - it'd be a lot cheapter to buy seasonal wrapping paper and just wrap a box with it. (Scrapbook paper is another option, but you'd have to piece it.)

For the boxes you see here, I used scraps! The Memorial Day / 4th of July box is made from leftovers from a red / white / blue project (I made the padded paper mache letters for a friend's grandson). The Valentine's box is leftover oilcloth from making these lunchbags, and these coasters ... I have no idea what else I'd ever do with it.

I'd still like to make a St. Patty's Day one,and probably an Easter one.

Now if you want to make one, it's really easy. Basically you cover a box w/ fabric using glue of some sort. If you like details, I've got way too many just below. I never knew I could describe wrapping a simple box in so many steps. Forgive me!

Materials:

• old gift /clothing / shoe box (ex: I used Janie & Jack and a Nordstrom box)
• Elmer's spray adhesive
• fabric
• foam brush
• mod podge
• invisible ink mark
• optional: rotary cutter, sewing ruler, cutting mat .
• optional: embellishments (ribbon, ric rac, buttons, felt cut outs, etc).

Steps:

1. Press fabric to remove any wrinkles

2. Place box onto fabric to draw your "template"- make sure you have enough fabric around all four edges to cover the sides + 1"

3. Using removable ink, trace around the box bottom

4. I like to simply tilt the box on its sides to see how much i need to cover the sides (height); otherwise, you can measure the box height and add 1" to that - do this for all four sides - these will become the sides which fold over slightly into the inside of the box (be sure to square up all four sides).

5. Using your sewing ruler, cut along the lines of the long sides so that in a few steps you can fold those long sides over onto the short sides (a picture better explains this) - since you just drew a box onto the fabric, it's very easy to get a precise straight line from here - match your ruler up to the box (look at my fingers in this picture) and the cut along the line extending from the long ends

6. Using spray glue (or mod podge) cover the bottom in glue 7. Carefully place box right onto the template you drew in step 2 - smooth out fabric so that it's even and there are no bubbles 8. Spray glue along long sides and smooth out fabric onto long sides 9. Spray glue onto one short end; then taking the "tails" of long sides, fold those over short side. Repeat for other short end.

10. Spray glue on TOP of those "tails" to adhere the actual short end that's left! Repeat for other short
side.
11. Clip with binder clips or clothes pins if needed. Let glue set for a minute while you repeat all steps for the box top.

12. Now it's time to fold the edges down and finish the box. Starting with the long ends, use Mod Podge (because it's easier to be precise w/ a foam brush and MP vs. spray glue) and apply to inside of box and just on box rim. Fold long ends over and hold until glue sets. Repeat for other long end. 13. Short sides. Fold corners over (like wrapping a present) using Mod Podge to set if needed, then apply Mod Poldge to entire short end strip just like you did in the prior step. Fold over short ends and hold until glue sets. Use binder clips or clothes pins to set if needed.

14. If you have any pieces that do not lay flat along the corners (picture below), use a little Mod Podge and glue them down. Now you're finished w/ the box! 15. Repeat the prior three steps for box top.

Variation: Use oilcloth or plastic coated fabric! I tried this on the Valentine's Day Box and I really like how it turned out. It feels sturdy and is no trickier to do than the regular fabric. Here are the slight changes I made for oilcloth:

I hope you enjoy making pretty storage solutions! If you run into any questions, just let us know. :)