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:

1. Iron the stabilizer to the fabric.
2. Create or open the cut file.
3. Using a sticky mat, brayer the fabric down so it is completely stuck to the mat.
4. Cut the shapes from the stabilizer/fabric.
5. Apply STOP Fraying to the tissue opening.
6. Press flaps and folds with an iron.
7. Cover the tissue box with the first layer and glue pieces together at the flaps.
8. On the outer fabric cut, glue down the side flaps first.
9. Insert a ribbon in the outer folds, and glue them down as well.
10. Fold up the tissue box cover and pull the ribbon.
11. Insert the tissue box, pull the ribbon tight and tie it.
12. Tie another ribbon around the top rim of the tissue box.
13. 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!