Whip It Up Wednesday: Fabric Covered Boxes

Remember the Flute Board Boxes I made a while back? Well, I covered them in fabric ...

And promptly decided I didn't like it. At ALL! Waaaay too bright, what were we thinking?! I can even say "we" because I took the OH and made him help me choose the fabric!

Anyway, I finally got around to remedying the situation!

Aaaahhh, that's more like it! Now let me show you what I did!

What You Need:

* Flute Board Boxes ;)

* Covering fabric

* Lining fabric or interfacing

* Stapler

* Scissors

* Mod Podge

* Optional - stencil & paint

What To Do:

We bought the material for the outside of these boxes especially for this, but other than that I only wanted to use things I had on hand. Because it was night time. And getting other stuff meant waiting. And I'm impatient.

So, I actually used two layers of interfacing and one of fabric. I used a dark layer of interfacing first, as the duct tape from the boxes showed through if I only used the white interfacing and fabric. It'll depend on your boxes, fabric and choice of lining what you do.

So, I cut a piece of dark interfacing about 1 inch larger on all sides than the front of the box.

Staple that layer to the front of your box. Pull it nice, flat and taut and staple around the edges. Trim off the excess interfacing at the corners.

Cut a piece of white interfacing the same size as the front of your box and staple it on.

Cut a piece of your outer fabric about the same size as the dark interfacing - 1 inch larger all around than the front of your box. Staple it on, but be sure to only put staples around the edges and on the inside of your box, not on the front where you'll see them!

To make my boxes slide in and out of the bookshelf without the edges of the fabric catching and pulling, I used Mod Podge to seal the edges. I used a paint roller because... I had a roller and I wanted to play with it :P It was fun!!

While that dries, prepare your stencil for painting. Or do what I did, and con the OH into cutting it out for you ;) (Hey, he said he was awesome with the scalpel so I let him prove himself! And yes, he did a good job!)

I found a shape I liked online - it was actually an embroidery photo - turned it into a silhouette, blew it up, printed it on thick cardboard and "let" my man cut out the shape. Thicker card or plastic would work much better, as this got soggy and was hard to hold into place while I painted.

Tape your stencil into place, and use a roller to paint over it.

Let it all dry and you're done! Now you have some lovely padded, fabric covered boxes!