A tutorial: Easy Fabric Box

I’ve been meaning to make something to hold puzzle pieces in our toy shelf. The baskets we have are rigid and the pieces don’t fit in it… so I wanted something “soft” that could accomodate any size & shape of toys as long as they fit in the cubby of the toy shelf.

And so I made this reversible fabric box. I’ve found many patterns/intructions for a sewn bottom basket/box – and wanted a simpler project (one I knew I wouldn’t possibly mess up while being helped by 2 kiddos on a rainy day!) and so I came up with this and thought i’d share.

This is very much a beginner’s project.

Fabric you’ll need:
20″x26″ of each Exterior Fabric, Lining Fabric & Canvas.

(this could easily be done with fat quarters (18×22)… I wanted to make one with that size as well, but I’m currently out of canvas!

. Cut your three fabrics to size (in example: 20″ by 26″)

[Since I didn't have one piece of canvas large enough I made one the right size by sewing 2 pieces together. I think a large overlap would have been nice to have a sturdier finished project but I didn't have enough canvas!]

. Baste canvas to exterior fabric of choice, right side facing out. Use 1/4″ seam allowance.

. Fold new exterior + canvas piece together, right sides facing. (folded piece to measure 20″ by 13″). Use 1/2″ seam allowance.

. Press seam open

. On corner, mark at 9″ for bottom of ‘box’.

. Sew the 9″ line

. Repeat for other side of box.

. Cut corner fabric

. Repeat last 6 steps for lining piece making sure to leave a 2 1/2″ opening on one of the sides (high enough for the bottom corner not to impact the opening)