Friday, April 8, 2016

Halloween Sewn Storage Cube


Time for my next 1, 2, 3 Sew project!  This time it is a storage cube.  I'm not sure exactly how this will fit into my Halloween Party planning, but I know that it is a cute way to use some of these fun Halloween fabrics I have in my stash.


This project has a lot of pieces to cut, but I like cutting 18 - 10x10 pieces much better than I like cutting one 27x27 piece.  It all fits on the cutting board so it is significantly easier to line up.  I am going to use the Orange Slime Time fabric for the outside of the box and the green ghosts on the inside.


I did not press the handles before making the 1/2" seam because I wanted to press the seam into the middle of the handles anyway.  Why press it to the create a crease that I need to remove?

Baste the interfacing to the interior pieces.  (This would have been helpful to know when I made the pencil cups and ironed the interfacing onto the outside of the fabric instead of the lining.  Maybe the inside would have been better... I could attempt a third cup and test it out if I still have time in the week before Halloween.)  I know basting is a temporary stitch to just hold things in place, but on a machine I think I'm supposed to just do a really long straight stitch (5.0).  I don't think the basting here is ever removed, but we'll try it out and see how it goes.

unpressed (left) vs pressed (right)
I'm not loving sewing with a long stitch.  At first I tried to sew with the project unpinnned (stupid) and the top fabric pulled a bit too much, so I pressed & pinned the fabric and then started over.  On my second attempt I left all of the pins in until I was done stitching.  I thought it was still far from perfect but after a quick pressing the basting looked much better.

Oh darn.  I sewed the 4th basting piece with the interfacing up versus down and it was SO MUCH EASIER!  The decorative fabric also didn't pucker at all.  Lesson learned, when basting a stiff interfacing to quilting cotton have the interfacing side up.


I'm using black thread as my matching thread as I did for all of the Halloween projects.


I found securing a square bottom significantly easier than doing the round bottom from the pencil cups.  I'm a little concerned that this box isn't going to be stiff enough, but we still have one more layer of fabric to add.  It is possible that I should have used some fusible interfacing on top of the stiff sew in interfacing for this project, but once again I'm a work-in-progress when it comes to sewing and fabric weights.  I don't really know what I"m doing when it comes to selecting interfacing, so this is all a learning experience.  This would have been better off in a thicker canvas, but I'm working with the fabric that I have in my stash.


The unlined outside cube stitched up quickly.  I pinned the handles in place before pining the inner and outer cubes together.


Putting the two cubes together, all 4 corners lined up. Horray!  So that's the first step, right?  Now it is time to sew them together and cross my fingers that it will all look good when turned right side out.


I'm not feeling that optimistic that it will be an actual cube, but it will be a square bottom basket!   I sewed with the interfacing up since this would give me the cleanest join as I learned earlier.


You know what the project doesn't give good instructions for?  How to close up the 6" gap in the lining.  I took a hand needle and mattress stitched it closed.


I let a little bit of the lining peak up and then edged stitch about 1/8" down from the orange fabric when I stitched around the edge.   I worked with the orange side up so I could keep track of where I wanted to be.


Finally, I wanted to see if I could square it up a bit.  I pressed on each of the corners to see if that would help it square out at all... and it worked!  My goodness, I actually have a cube here!


That really did help out!  I actually have a storage cube now.  Isn't it cool?   The next project in 1, 2, 3, Sew is a much more complicated storage device.  I hope that I will like the final product as much as I like this one!  Since Lucky's Halloween Birthday Party is one week away, I will have to take a bit of a break from my sewing projects because I think that this is my last Halloween Themed Sewing project that I will create this fall.  (Unless of course I decide to give the pencil case another go with the interfacing on the inside.)  Oh wait... I still have to finish up my costume! I'm not sure yet if it will involve any sewing or just a hot glue gun.  Wish me luck!



Project started 10.23.2015