Little, big or medium, the linear pleasure of being able to put things away and put lids on and then create neat little forts of organized tidiness makes some corner of my inner OCD self warm and happy!
So , of course, I had to try and make some out of felt!
Because of the limited size of the felt I have (as well as the limited ability to get any more once I use it up!) the boxes had to be small. The first one I tried was from How About Orange which is really good and uncomplicated. And this would probably have been where I stopped looking except I couldn't get my printer to copy out the template to scale! I tried working it out but it wasn't what I was looking for. Partial success but not quite close enough!
See? I couldn't get the lid tight enough. I struggled with the printer, trying to wrap my numerically illiterate brain around percentages (Failed!) and finally gave up and started looking again.
I found a template for a paper exploding box. I didn't even know that's what these things were called and after looking at it for a while, I was sure I could make something like it with my felt. So...off I went!
I cut out 2 layers of felt for the outer layer and the inner layer, that way I could hide any untidy stitches between the layers and cut out the bottom template and the lid template. Then I running stitched around the square centre at the bottom and the lid so everything wouldn't move any more. Next, because the inner folds would need to fold inwards I cut the centres of the triangles (where the dotted line denotes fold lines) and re-sewed the edges together so the were permanently pointing inwards. I thought I was really clever as I sewed all the pieces together. It looked so nice! And then I tried to put the lid on the folded box...
I didn't like it!
When I tried to fold it, all the flaps were either piling up against each other or pointing the wrong way so I had to sit back and think again. There had to be a way to line up the inner folds so it looked like a box instead of a screwed up piece of felt with a square hat!
I finally came up with a solution. I pierced the 2 opposite faces of the box with a skewer and sewed a flower over the hole and edged it with button hole stitch. Then I sewed 2 loops (the sort you use when you put a hook and loop on the top of a skirt to help close it as you do up the zip.) on the 2 inward pointing folds and then thread some thin cord through the loops and out the hole in the side and tied a knot in the two ends.
Now with both sides done I found that by pulling them up, the box developed a nice firm form and I could tip the sides up, place the lid on, wrap the cord over the top and tie it down. Viola! A felt box!
Isn't it the cutest thing you've ever seen?? I can think of so many things I could use this for! A sewing needle caddy immediately springs to mind since it's made of felt. A box to hold a special gift. Something to hold thread bobbins in when stitching. And it's so embellish-able!
I enjoyed the details in this and having to adapt the original pattern to make the end result still useful as well as beautiful! And it's so pretty! Never a bad thing. So I decided to make another one, just to see if I'd worked out all the bugs in the assembly.
I really liked the impact of the navy against the red and the little pop of green at the thread holes. I thought I might have done some sashiko design on the top but I didn't really have the patience to slow down and do it. I wanted to finish!
I really like it, especially the beaded ends to the ties. I love details! I love anything glittery and clink-y. I've really enjoyed exploring this box form and now I have one more string to my bow for handmade gifts! Huzzah!
I think I need to give the felt a rest for a little bit though. My fingertips are sore and I'm covered in shredded bits of felt. In a fortnight we'll be going on holidays so I need to figure out what craft I'm taking with me. Especially anything that I can do to distract me on a 5 hour flight!
What do any other crazy crafty's do on flights?
See you later :)
Dx
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