Nesting Boxes

This is one of the loveliest and practical  projects in the book BUT it takes a LOT of time! I think I would have spent a good 10 hours on this project doing the boxes as per the pattern in the book.

Fabric and Cutting

The fabric comes from Howard Marcus' 'Collections for a Cause' and is called 'Hope'. I have some leftover jelly roll strips from a queen-sized quilt, a bag, a dresser runner and placemats. 

I find that cutting everything out first is helpful. I decided to use the spotty fabric for the lining rather than linen.

Tips

I highly recommend reading through a couple of the posts by faithful Amanda The Patchsmith and  Debbie at A Quilter's Table. There is also an alternative method of construction posted by Wendy the Crafter's Apprentice.

I followed Amanda's tip for sewing  bottom in an opposite sequence.

Hand sewing the box together took ages...so watch some good drama. I've been watching 'Wallander' and 'Case Histories'.

Problems

Fabric Wastage - I struggled with the fact that the batting and lining was a good deal bigger than was needed. It had me scratching my head late at night and then again in the morning. Thanks to Debbie, for also noting the same problem - otherwise I would have thought I was crazy. Rather than cut it off I decided to fold it over and use it under the binding.

Binding - Then I used a 3" wide jelly roll strip in a single-fold binding. I should have thought about making the ends neat and tucked beforehand - but I ended up having to spend extra time unpicking, trimming and re-sewing them to get a clean finish.

Changes

I added fusible interfacing to the sides of the box which gave it a good stiffness at the end. I forgot to add some to the bottom and they are noticeably softer even with quilting.

I decided to keep the decoration simple so I left out the leaf applique.

They nest nicely and...

 match my dresser runner.

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