Category Archives: Photographs

Embroidery Floss Storage DIY

I use many colors when I’m embroidering. I tend to keep them on the coffee table beside my chair, and that can sometimes become a bit messy:

So I thought of a neater way to keep all the colors I need for a project handy. There was nothing available in the village, and besides, I really didn’t want to buy more than I absolutely had to.

So I bought this:

A big packet of very inexpensive wallpaper adhesive, which I had been planning to try for a long time. The rest I had at home

Materials for this project:

• An empty cereal box
• glue (wallpaper glue or something else)
• fabric or pretty paper
• a paintbrush (not your best one)
• scissors
• a Stanley knife
• a ruler
• a pen or pencil
• empty boxes or cardboard rests

Method:

Measure 7cm (2.7 in), or you desired height, from the bottom of the cereal box. Draw a line, all the way around.

 Cut along the line, all the way around.

Now you have a low open box.

Spread you your fabric and lay the box on  the side, close to the edge. Draw around the side.

Roll the box carefully over, without shifting it, and draw around the bottom;

roll it over to the other side and draw around that.

Finally you roll it back on the bottom, and from there on to the front and back and draw around those pieces too.

Your pattern should now look something like this:

Make two of these.

On one of them you add a 1cm (1/2 in) seam allowance all around.

Cut out the pieces. Cut into the corners, on the one with the seam allowances. 

Mix the glue, if you are using wall paper glue. I used 1 small teaspoon in 1 dl of water. I think that is a bit too much, I’m going to use a bit less powder next time.

Cover the inside of the box with a liberal amount of glue. Ease the fabric, without the seam allowance into place.  Then do the same on the outside of the box. Fold the seam allowance neatly over the edges, and around the corners.

The colors from the box shine through, when the glue is still wet, but once dry, that disappears.

And now for the interesting part. You could skip covering the box, paint it or just pick a prettier one, but the actual storage thingies, the ones I’m a bit proud of, are the next step.

You cut out small cards, in the inside measurements of your box (here just about 7×7 cm /2.7×2.7 in) and cut a small curves at each end like this:

Then you cut small slots on each side of the curves.

And fasten one end of the floss into one slot, wind it around the card, and fasten the other end into the other slot. You can write the number of the floss on the card, if you like.

Pretty neat, right?