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Exploding Notions Storage Box | Debbie Shore Sewing Pattern

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This great little storage box, or etui, would be a perfect gift for a sewer. Lift the lid, and the sides fall open to make all the contents easily accessible.

There’s a mini storage box in the very centre, with two padded boxes around it that open like the petals of a flower. Use the padded areas to store pins and needles, the elastic straps to hold threads, packets of needles or small scissors, and the pockets and central box for the other little sewing essentials you’re always mislaying, like needle threaders, bodkins, thimbles or even those spare buttons you don’t know where to put.

I’ve used PVA glue to attach the fabric to the cardboard support. Although it takes a while to dry, I find it less lumpy than the hot glue but, on the other hand, you will find that hot glue is perfect for attaching the padded panels to the box as it is so strong.

I thought it would look nice on my box to add fussy-cut panels to the outside to decorate it, but this step is optional, and you may prefer the look of the box without them.

Without the lid, the outer box is 4in (10cm) square; with the lid it is 4½in (11.5cm) square

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You will need:

Equipment

• Sewing machine
• Fabric shears
• Iron
• PVA glue
• Hot-glue gun and hot glue
• Safety pin or bodkin, for threading the elastic
• Optional: craft knife and cutting mat

Materials

For the box:

• 22 x 19in (56 x 48cm) rectangle of stiff cardboard (or more if you don’t manage to cut frugally): be careful with corrugated cardboard as it bends easily and you want something sturdy here
• 20 x 16in (51 x 40cm) rectangle of fabric for the outer box and lid: mine is blue with sewing motifs
• 25 x 10in (64 x 25cm) rectangle of fabric for the lining of the outer box and lid: mine is plain blue
• 10in (25.5cm) square of fabric for the inner box outer: mine is yellow
• 10 x 9in (25 x 23cm) rectangle of fabric for the inner box lining: mine is the same yellow fabric as for the inner box outer
• 23 x 6in (58.5 x 15cm) strip of fabric for the storage box and pockets: mine is cream with small sewing-machine motifs
• 30 x 15in (76 x 38cm) rectangle of wadding/batting: I’ve used two layers of 80/20 for padding but if you have a thicker wadding, you can use one layer and then you only need a 15in (38cm) square of wadding
• 35in (90cm) of ¼in (5mm) wide elastic: I used two different colours – 18in (46cm) of white elastic in the pockets and 16in (41cm) of blue elastic for the elastic straps – but you can use the same colour for both

To decorate:

• Four 2in (5cm) squares of thin card
• Four 3in (7.5cm) squares of fussy-cut fabric to embellish the side panels: I used sewing-machine motifs from my pocket fabric
• 16in (40cm) of ?in (2mm) wide ribbon: mine is red

   

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