Geta's Quilting Studio

Fresh Ideas for Quilts and Bags

Fabric boxes

69 Comments

Pin
Share

Do you use interfacing? For making bags, pouches, bowls? Maybe garments? If your answer is positive, I am sure you have many leftovers, small scraps you don’t want to throw to the trash.
I consider interfacing (especially the heavyweight one) as valuable as the fabrics I use in my projects. I am happy I found a way to use every bit of it !

Fabric boxes tutorial
fabric boxes tutorial These boxes use 5 squares of interfacing. I made the smallest with 4’’ squares, but if you have smaller scraps you can make them even smaller. The medium size box used 5’’ squares and the largest 6’’.

I have leftovers of Fast2Fuse, this is a heavyweight fusible interfacing. You can use non-fusible interfacing as well.
Other heavyweight interfacing you can use for great result: Pellon Peltex, Decolvil I.

You may also like:

You must know this trick

Sew napkins with flanged binding

Game changing habit

You can make such boxes in no time. Lets’ start!

You need:
– 5 squares of interfacing;
– 5 squares of fabric for the interior of the box;
– 5 squares of fabric for the exterior of the box.
I used quilt weight cotton fabric.
– Jeans/Denim needle #100/16.

Fuse the fabric to the two sides of interfacing. You will end up with 5 heavyweight squares.

I like sturdy boxes.

  • Fast2Fuse is very stiff, if your interfacing is lightweight, use more layers. You can add even batting.
  • If your interfacing is not fusible, just make a sandwich with all the layers and quilt it to hold them together; then cut out of it a square in the desired size.
  • You can pair lightweight interfacing with heavyweight fabric.

I added a few straight lines of quilting to my squares.

Lay the squares on a surface with the exterior facing up. To form the box, we have to attach the exterior squares to the central square.
Attach first the left and the right squares then add the top and bottom squares.

Here is how to stitch the edges of the squares together:

Place two squares next to each other under the presser foot. Do not overlap the edges.
Join the pieces using a dense zig-zag stitch and be sure you catch both edges. Use the wider zig-zag stitch you can make with your machine.
Backstitch at the beginning and ending of each seam.
Here the left and right squares are attached.
You can use a decorative thread in the needle and any thread you want in the bobbin.

Here all 4 squares are attached to the base. This will be the exterior of the box.

Detail.

Turn the piece on the other side – this will be the interior of the box.
Now we have to stitch the corners. Keep the interior facing up. Fold the piece in half on the red line (the diagonal of the center square). Keep the edges aligned.As shown, stitch the edges together using the same dense and wide zig-zag stitch.

Detail after stitching.

And here is the first corner.

Repeat and stitch the other corners.

Finish the top edges in the same manner, with a dense and wide  zig-zag.

The box is finished, you can add some embellishments if you want.

Free shopping bag pattern

Variations for more decorative boxes
Instead of plain fabric squares, I used pieced blocks.

You can add even labels – with the content of the box or maybe the name of the kids. Do this before starting assembling the box.


I hope you will find this tutorial useful.

Do you need more box pattern ideas? Click on the images below.

Box patternsFabric basket patterns

DIY Fabric Organizers for drawers
Happy sewing!

Pin
Share

Comments

  6. LJeterpudd says

    Hiya,

    Wonderful tutorial, great for my craft nite.. I have four daughters and a fourteen yr old granddaughter that come to my home on Thurs nites and we do crafts.. They love it and I totally enjoy being w/my girls..
    Thanks so much,
    Linda J
    VA

    Reply

  14. Anonymous says

    Grazie tante Geta , sei molto gentile oltre che tanto brava. . Il tutorial è molto carino e utile quando non si è molto esperte !!!.

    Reply

  28. Kat says

    Oh, the boxes are sooo cute!
    I can't wait to try them; thanks for sharing.
    Do you think they'd work in a bigger size? I'd like to make bigger ones to organize my yarn…I could use the boxes to sort the yarn.

    Reply

  31. p.s.phyllis sews says

    Thank you so much! This was a very helpful tutorial! I do have lots of heavy interfacing that I have been wanting to use. I really can't remember why I bought it in the first place! Can't wait to get started.

    Reply

  34. Elisa says

    congratulations from brasil! very nice tutorial. the easiest fabricbox seen on net!
    i became a follower. very nice blog also

    Elisa
    baudetrapinhos.blogspot.com

    Reply

  40. Anonymous says

    Thank you for your tutorial on Fabric boxes. It was easy to follow. Very clear instructions. I had to choose a different stitch when I had to sew the pieces together, since my sewing machine does not have the same stitch you used. It still turned out pretty good. I will do more of them so that I use up the scraps of fabric, which I have a lot of it. It's a fun project!

    Reply

  45. Farah Muzaffar says

    Hello , I saw you on totally tutorial and come here to see the complete how to do.
    Its great, very lovely, and I am sure easy to make and I ll try some for my work table, you describe it in a very detailed manner, no confusion, nothing un clear. thanks for sharing… I am following you now..
    I would love if you please pay a little visit to me at

    http://craftaworld.blogspot.com/

    Hope you enjoy your visit there and let me know about it.
    Love
    Farah

    Reply

  46. Judy says

    Thanks for this great tute! I was just thinking that I needed to make a few little boxes, but hadn't gotten around to thinking about how to do it. Now I don't have to think=)

    Reply

  50. Juni Biscuit says

    Parabéns pelo blog, amei as caixinhas!!! São lindas…
    Estou te seguindo para ficar sempre por dentro das novidades, visita meu blog, espero que goste, trabalho com biscuit e mdf!
    Parabéns mais uma vez. Beijinhos…

    Reply

  55. Grapes & Hearts says

    Thank you, Greta,
    I made this Box (my first quilting or patchwork project ever!) and it was fun! fun! fun!
    I shared your link (and a photo of my box) on my facebook page, I hope you don't mind :o)

    Reply

  56. Lindy says

    What a beautiful, happy, fun tutorial. You are so generous to share this with the world. I will be whipping one of these up today, so I won't forget your easy methods! Thank you!

    Reply

  59. kwilta says

    In the Trapunto quilts – how do you get the pattern to show white whilst the fabric is another colour? Even is
    f you insert the Trapunto it wouldnt show white under the dense coloured fabric?
    Anxious to know the secret.

    Reply

  63. Leeanne says

    Amazing!! I must make…..I have now become a follower. I love trapunto,you have made some beautiful quilts etc. Unfortunately I have not made enough time to do more.

    Reply

  68. Diya says

    This is the most amazing box tutorial I ever seen online.. I want to try it.. I have a few questions can you please help me out here?
    1. How thick is fasttofuse that you used here?
    2. What thickness of cotton batting you used to make these?
    3. Backstitching with zig zag does it cause entanglment ?

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Copyright © 2018 · Geta Grama | Privacy Policy

Pin
Share