Pinterest Adventures Are Back!

You probably noticed that I took a bit of a break from my Pinterest attempts. I decided to start them back up this month, but I may not be doing them on a monthly basis. It'll most likely be a random thing. But still fun!

My latest Pinterest-inspired project is "Make Your Own Basket Out Of A Box". Yep, sounds crazy, but it did look cute in the photo. The instructions seemed fairly simple, so I gave it a go. You can find the original instructions HERE.

All you need for this project is: a cardboard box (whatever size you want), some fabric, some twine or rope, and hot glue. The most difficult thing to find was the rope. I finally found some at Wal-Mart, and it looks pretty much like the rope that is used in the instructions.

This twine-like rope was pretty stiff, and gluing it on turned out to be a pretty time-consuming task. It was easy going along the sides of the box, but turning the corners took a bit of work. Each time I turned a corner, I had to hold the rope on both sides of the corner until I was sure that it was firmly stuck on.

I just ran a line of glue where I wanted the rope to stick. I started at the bottom and worked my way up to a point where I thought the fabric should cover it. Plus, a LOT of hot glue was used. I only burned myself once. But I was happy with the final result of this first step.

Next I cut the box flaps off. You can do this before you start gluing the rope, but I was too lazy.

Now it's time to cut the fabric. Here is where I deviated from the instructions. I'm not a fan of hot gluing fabric because I've never been able to do it where it looks good. So I thought that just folding the fabric over the sides of the box would be good enough. I cut the fabric as follows: the height of the box + the measurement of the outside fold-over that you want + 1" + about 3" to go on the bottom of the box. The one inch is to fold under so that you have a clean edge on the edge of the fabric. That's for the height of the fabric. For the length (that will wrap around the box), simply measure around the outside of the box and add 1-1/4".

I sewed a seam on the short side with right sides together (1/2" seam) and then I ironed a 1" fold-over on one of the long edges. It was time to put the fabric on the box! See how I folded the fabric over the rope edge? That 1" fold is on the bottom. I didn't take a picture of the inside of the box at this time, and I should have. If I did though, you would see the extra 3" laying on the bottom of the box. Messy looking, you say? Nope.

 

I cut a piece of cardboard the dimensions of the inside of the box. Test it out to make sure it fits before you cover with fabric. I fastened the fabric to the wrong side of the cardboard with double stick tape. You won't see this side.

Then I inserted the cardboard piece into the bottom of the box. Presto! You don't see those messy looking fabric edges laying on the bottom of the box!

I didn't glue the covered cardboard piece to the bottom of the box, but if you want to do that, go ahead. The original instructions don't do this step at all, but I wanted a nice, finished look inside the box.

So there it is. Useful for so many things.

Would I do this project again? Yes, but I think I would look for a rope-type material that is more flexible, resulting in easier-to-turn corners. Maybe something like cotton clothesline would work and look good too? I guess I need to look in more places for something like this. But the result is cute and useful at the same time. Plus it's inexpensive to make. Depending on the size of the box, not much fabric is needed. It's a great time to use those remnants!

Hot glue is, well, hot. Take the Martha Stewart advice and keep a bowl of ice water at hand and stick your finger in there if you burn yourself. 

I hope you liked this demonstration. Check out the original instructions from Living Well Mom by clicking the link HERE and decide on the steps you'd like to use to make a fun and functional basket!

Thanks for visiting today! Any comments are welcome, and please consider becoming a follower of my blog. Welcome to my new followers! Also, remember that I'm on Flosstube on Youtube. My channel's name is CraftyCat Stitcher. Go over there and take a look! See you soon!