Fabric Box Pictorial Tutorial

My wardrobe was a mess...... especially the sections which had smaller items.  Being small, stacking little towers of these often fell and became unfolded in the process.  Once again, I went back to the stash of old curtain fabric which I still had after all these projects:

1) Upcycled bag
2) Zippered pouch
3) Old sewing machine cover

It's now time for fabric boxes using the same curtain fabric again!!  Here's a detailed pictorial on how I made it:

Step 1: Measuring
First of all, decide what size you'd like your fabric box to be.  We basically need 3 measurements - the length, breadth and height of the fabric box that you'd like to make.  Then decide on the seam allowance that you'll be comfortable working with.

measuring & marking wrong side of outer fabric

I like to draw the lines on the fabric so that the final product is more precise in size, and I also need the intersection points marked out with red dots.  The size of the cut fabric would be:

longer side = length + (2 x height) + (2 x seam allowance)

shorter side = breadth = (2 x height) + (2 x seam allowance)

For each corner, fold the fabric along the red dotted lines (right sides facing each other) and pin them in place.

And here's the inner fabric with the same markings on it.  Do the same folding/pinning with the inner fabric

measuring & marking wrong side of inner fabric

Step 2: Folding/Pinning/Sewing 4 Corners
As stated in Step 1, fold all corners of outer and inner fabric with right sides facing each other and pin them.  Here's what 1 of the corners looks like:

Fold and pin all corners

Now sew along the black line:

Sew along the black line

And trim off the excess:

Trim off excess

After sewing all 4 corners, you should get a floppy looking "box" starting to form:

Floppy "box" from outer fabric

Do the same for the inner fabric.

Step 3: Assembling the Outer and Inner "Boxes"
By now, you should have 2 floppy "boxes".  Turn the outer fabric box wrong side outwards, and the inner fabric box right side outwards.  Put the inner fabric box inside the outer fabric box like this (right sides of outer and inner fabric should be facing each other):

Assemble the 2 floppy "boxes" like this

Got it? Now, pin them together near the top and sew all around the top of the box, remembering to leave a gap of about 1 to 2 inches.

Pin the outer and inner "boxes" together

Sew along the top

Step 4: Turning it inside out
If you remembered to leave a gap in the previous step, you can now proceed to the fun part of turning it inside out through that gap

Turning inside out through the gap

Step 5: Iron and Top-stitch
After all that turning, give the top of the box a good ironing:

Iron the top of the box

We're almost there..... To close the gap as well as to give it a neater finish, top-stitch along the top of the box and ta-daa:

Completed fabric box

Optional Step: Sewing the Edges
As I chose not to use any interfacing for this project, you might find the box a bit too floppy for you.  In order to give it more shape, you can either use interfacing, or sew along the height of each edge like this:

Sew edges to give more shape

Phew..... hope this tutorial is clear enough.  If not, just drop me a comment/email and I'll try my best to explain further.