Making a sewing box from a cardboard book base.
You will need:
One piece of cotton fabric large enough to cover the inside and outside of the book.
One piece of satin for the lining.
Two pieces of fabric to make a flat, padded pincushion style piece for the inside cover.
Two pieces of fabric to make a similar padded insert for the base.
Wadding to fill the inserts.
Ribbon to tie around the outer edge of the book.
A piece of fabric to decorate the front cover. (I used a book cover print but you could use any spare bits of fabric to design a cover).
Method:
I covered the entire book with a pink cotton fabric, making sure to mitre the corners. I tied a wide pink ribbon around the outer edge to help secure the fabric.
I then added a pink satin lining inside the book on top of the cotton fabric to create a double lining.
I stitched together two pieces of fabric with the cottage cover print and sandwiched a piece of lightweight wadding between them. This made a soft pincushion style piece to sew inside the book cover. I also made another one of these using a pink print to cushion the inside base of the book.
For the front cover I used a needle turn appliqué technique to sew the cottage fabric to the book. Needle turn appliqué is a traditional method of appliqué that requires the fabric to be turned under when sewing. It creates a lovely, classic effect. You could also attach the appliqué using iron–on fusible webbing or fabric glue.
I added a pincushion, ribbons, thimble, thread and other sewing accessories to the little book to make a sewing box.
