Little Batik Box

     I like my coffee black with one pack of Truvia sweetner.  Ever since I started buying the boxes of Truvia, I have loved their shape.  One day, I thought, "I could take this box apart and make a pattern, and wouldn't it be neat to try to make a fabric box like this sometime?"  Well, that day was today!  I finally had time to return to my studio to do some work that I enjoy today, and it just seemed the perfect time to try it.  I started with the piece of fabric that I batiked a couple of weeks ago using my loaner tjaps, remember this fabric?

Fabric was yellow, then I stamped the melted soy wax into it with the tjap, then dyed it in low immersion dye bath of turquoise blue dye. I really kind of thought it would be more green, but that yellow is a pretty powerful color. Nevertheless, I love this color combination.

Here is the finished box front. I ironed heavy weight Pellon to the wrong side of the fabric for strength and structure, then sandwiched some wonder under to secure the lining fabric of yellow.

Then I used a satin stitch all around the edges for a little definition and to finish the edges nicely. Then, you know me, I'm not going to miss an opportunity to thread stitch, and what is my favorite subject to thread stitch?---TREES. So I stitched trees on three sides for a little more personality, and notice the front tree is fully stitched on the inside of the front flap and outside, so that you have a full tree whether the box is open or closed.

Then, to attach the sides, I started by hot gluing them together, pinning them, and then went back and added tacking to all of the corners with my machine, because I care about the longevity of my pieces.

And look at all that it will hold! My calculator fits perfectly! Obviously, you can't put tons of things in here, but I was quite surprised at home much it would hold. This will go to the art center to add to my inventory, and hopefully on to someone else's home one day who loves trees and batik fabric as much as I do...

This was a fun project, and I suspect there will be more to follow.  I have a smaller size to try, as well as a tissue box pattern to try...endless possibilities!  Give this a try, it's pretty easy and the results are adorable.