I'm currently working on the lid for my Letraset box. The box will be wrapped in a blue cotton fabric, and I want it to open like a book, so I've sewn the fabric around the top. Now I need to put sides on the lid so that it slots into the base and stays in place.
I'm making the sides by gluing a strip of cardboard to each end with a piece of pre-folded card, then folding the fabric back over it and sewing the open edges together.
Gluing and clamping the lid.
So, how to fold the fabric around the corner? Should I use glue to secure the fabric, or simply to fold it? I want to box to look neat, with no glue marks visible, so I'll try to just fold the fabric around the cardboard and sew it together at the edges; hopefully now glue will be needed.
Pinning the fabric. I trimmed the fabric down so that there would be a sufficient amount to fold in on itself and sew together along the edges of the lid, but not so much for it to be big and bulky.
Sewing the fabric together. I did this sllllooooooooowwwwwllllyyyy.
The corners.
Once the sides were sewn in, I then used Bostik Fast-Tak spray glue to attach the fabric to the outside of the box. The glue is repositionable, so works well for this sort of project. If you spray too much, the glue can soak through the fabric and leave a mark, so I just wipe excess off with a spare piece of card - try not to use your fingers, this stuff is super sticky and you'll need white spirit to get it off.
The next job will be to get some fabric to cover the base lining, then gluing that into position to keep all the fabric neatly in place. That will be the box itself completed, and I'll also be making a fastening for the box to keep it secure. I'd like it to look like an old fashioned envelope like the one below, from Present and Correct. So we'll see how that goes later.
Thanks for having a look, and hope you enjoyed!