I received an email recently for a Cartonnage class – I hadn’t a clue what that meant so I googled it. During my perusal of the Google results, I saw these cute tissue box covers made from paper and decided to adapt them for a project that hadn’t been getting any steam. It was perfect timing! I wanted to make my daughter something both useful and nice with some fat quarters of fabric she picked out. This was just the inspiration I needed!
First, I created my design file in MTC. I made it for paper (hence the fold lines), but cut it from fabric.
I want the fabric to hold its shape, so I ironed a heavyweight fusible Pellon stabilizer to the back before cutting. Cutting was so easy! I ran three test cuts to make sure it was going all the way through the fabric and the stabilizer and then I was cutting away!
I learned to put the fabric side down on my sticky mat when the stabilizer left a lot of fuzz and thin layers of the material during the first go-round.
I put Aleene’s STOP Fraying around the tissue opening and let it dry. I covered the tissue box first. I wasn’t worried about the fabric not fitting tightly because the next layer would hide it.
For the ‘bottom’ piece, I ironed the ‘side’ flaps over and glued them with Aleene’s Fast Grab Tacky Glue. Then I put a ribbon around the shape and folded the outer flaps down over the ribbon and glued them down.
I pulled the ribbon tight and placed the tissue box inside it. By laying the box on its side I was able to pull the ribbon and fasten it in place without fighting over the longer side panels.
I placed another ribbon around the outside and tied the bow. Then, using steam from my iron I shaped the side panels so they’d puff out.
And voila!
Materials:
- box of tissues
- 18″ x 24″ fabric (two matching patterns)
- matching ribbon
- Pellon heavyweight fusible stabilizer
- Aleene’s STOP Fraying
- Aleene’s Fast Grab Tacky Glue
- Fabric Blade (yellow cap)
Settings (Maxx Air):
- f = 74
- v = 200
- p = 2
Steps:
- Iron the stabilizer to the fabric.
- Create or open the cut file.
- Using a sticky mat, brayer the fabric down so it is completely stuck to the mat.
- Cut the shapes from the stabilizer/fabric.
- Apply STOP Fraying to the tissue opening.
- Press flaps and folds with an iron.
- Cover the tissue box with the first layer and glue pieces together at the flaps.
- On the outer fabric cut, glue down the side flaps first.
- Insert a ribbon in the outer folds, and glue them down as well.
- Fold up the tissue box cover and pull the ribbon.
- Insert the tissue box, pull the ribbon tight and tie it.
- Tie another ribbon around the top rim of the tissue box.
- Use steam from the iron to shape the sides. Apply steam to each side, then set it upright to cool.
I wish I had some springtime fabric to cover all of our tissue boxes!
Well now that is super cute. And I love the pink.
That’s very pretty, and definitely belongs in girl’s bathroom or on her nightstand! Nice work!