Years and years ago, I was rummaging around Pinterest for fun sewing ideas. It was right around the time that I was trying to do some organizing, so I was looking for bags and boxes mainly. I happened upon the Fabric Storage Box at the AllFreeSewing website. Bonus, it seemed simple enough!
I did struggle a bit, though. Therefore, I’m going to write my materials and method out as a recipe so that I can reference again in the future!
Fabric Box
Ingredients
Materials
- 1 40×14.25" outside fabric panel
- 1 40×14.25" coordinating inside fabric panel
- 1 11.5×17" outside fabric panel
- 2 40×14.25" mid-weight iron on interfacing
- 1 Extra Wide Double Fold Bias Tape
- 10 10.5×13.5" Plastic Canvas
- Coordinating Thread
Instructions
- Iron the interfacing panels to the wrong side of the fabric panels.
- Using the outside fabric, align the two short ends with the right sides touching, and sew a 0.5" seam. Zigzag the raw seams, and iron the seam to one side.
- Repeat step 2 using the inside fabric.
- Turn the outside fabric right side out, and iron with the seam on the left side, forming a crease on the right. Add a pin to the top and bottom of the tube at that crease. Mark a line from the top of the tube to the bottom, along the crease.
- Slide the inside fabric into the outside fabric tube. Make sure the wrong sides are together (interfacing sides together), and the seams are aligned.
- Pin the edges of the fabric together along the top and bottom raw edges.
- Measure and mark a line 5.5" on both sides of the seam, from the top edge to the bottom edge of the fabric.
- Measure and mark a line 5.5" on both sides of the previously drawn center line on the opposite side of the tube from the seam (from step 4).
- Sew the four newly drawn lines, and only those lines (do not sew along the seam, or the crease), forming four pockets, two that are 11 inches wide, and two that are 8.5 inches wide.
- Measure and mark 4.75" up from the bottom edge of the tube, all the way around. Sew a seam along that line, making sure to only sew one layer of outer fabric to one layer of inner fabric.
- Turn the tube inside out, and flatten with the vertical lines aligned at the top and bottom. Using a 0.5" seam, sew the bottom of the tube shut. Finish with a zig zag stitch.
- Place a pin straight through the seam sewn 4.75" from the bottom. Open the top of the tube, and flatten the side down, creating a triangle with the bottom seam in the center. Ensure the bottom seam is aligned with the pin.
- Flip the tube over, and measure the length of the 4.75" seam – it should be approximately 8.5" across.
- Sew along the seam, catching all four layers of fabric.
- Repeat steps 12 through 14 for the other corner.
- Cut off the corners, and zig zag the raw edges. Set the box aside.
- Next, cut the plastic canvas to slide into each of the side pockets of the box, about 0.5" smaller than the size of the pocket. Use two canvases per side for extra strength.
- Slide two pieces of canvas into each side of the box as far as it will go.
- Using the double fold bias tape, enclose the plastic canvas into the box sides, making sure the canvas is pushed down into the side as far as possible. Don't worry if you need to start and stop multiple times to adjust. Set the box aside.
- Using the 11.5×17" piece of outside fabric, line up the short sides together, right sides together. Sew a 0.5" seam along one short and one long side of the fabric. Turn right side out, making sure to make the corners crisp.
- Slide two trimmed plastic canvas sheets into the pocket. Turn the raw edges in, pin, and sew a seam very close to the folded edge.
- Place the new bottom pane into the box.
- You're done! Fill 'er up!
When finished, the box should be approximately 9.5″ tall by 11″ wide by 8.5″ deep. I used cotton canvas for the fabric. It proved to be easier to manage than the typical thick home décor fabric, and I was less concerned about it deteriorating once I laundered it.
What do I store in this box? Bags! Near the door out to my car, so that I can swap out purse contents from one bag to another. And it’s working like a charm!
What will you store?