day 25: let's give Rachael her say

When I started this 365 makes idea I knew I was gonna need to take the occasional break.  I thought it would be great to gather other crafty bloggers that have a desire to learn and make.  so I have been reaching out, scheduling, getting to know people and giving them ideas as well as gathering them.  First up to get our year tuned up is Rachael from Imagine Gnats. she's my bestie and I am grateful to her for all of her support! 

well, hello there! i'm rachael (of imagine gnats fame), and i'm happy to be sharing a fun improv sewing project here today.

as we were preparing for the most recent project of merrily we sew along, i had the pleasure of teaching the canvas nesting boxes as a class at sewn studio. during class, we started wondering how we could make the same baskets out of printed fabric instead of the canvas. of course we did a little experimenting, and i thought i'd share with you a little how-to for making some fabric nesting baskets of your very own.

materials needed:
exterior fabric
lining fabric
SF101 Shape-Flex®
Wonder-Under®
water soluble marker
sewing machine & notions

before sewing or cutting, decide how big you want each nesting box to be. you'll need to know the base size as well as the side height (boxes shown vary in base size from 3-6" square and side height from 1.5-2.5").

for each nesting box, add your base size to double your side height. (ie 3"+1.5"+1.5" = 6") you'll need to cut one square that size out of each of the two fabrics and two interfacings to make that box.

*tip: i like to cut all of my pieces slightly larger so that i can trim down the final fused square. it makes for a cleaner edge.*

put materials together as follows: fuse SF101 to the wrong side of the exterior fabric. fuse Wonder-Under to the SF101 (now the wrong side of exterior fabric). peel away paper from Wonder-Under and fuse to wrong side of lining fabric. (as long as you have both interfacings inside and the fabrics facing out, you've done it right!)

mark the base of your box by drawing a line the side height away from each of the four raw edges, and stitch around this line.

on each of the four corners, cut a diagonal line from the corner of the square to the corner of the base you just stitched.

pull together the fabric at each corner so that the sides overlap, forming the box shape, and pin.

stitch around top edge of box to hold in place *tip: i used a zigzag stitch with my overlock foot so that i could get my stitch right at the top edge*

and there you have it! a beautiful set of fabric nesting boxes. the fabric used for the nesting boxes shown is from Lucky Penny by Alison Glass for Andover Fabrics (you can get your own from Pink Castle Fabrics). i can't get enough of that bike path print!

if you make your own fabric nesting boxes, don't forget to enter them in the merrily we sew along flickr group. happy stitching!



What a great tutorial Rachael!  Thank you so much for being my first guest poster for 365makes! xoxoxox