A few weeks back I covered some Ikea storage boxes in various @orlakiely fabrics. Our house, being edwardian, like many other period properties has little to no built in storage so we struggle to make things look tidy without spending a fortune on fitted storage solutions until we figure out exactly how we want the house to finally look.
So for a short term fix, I looked for a long time at different materials to use to recover these boxes from spray paint to self adhesive patterned vinyl but fabric resulted in being the cheapest method.
I selected two different orla kiely fabric from @terrysfabrics - 2m of each to cover the front and sides and the lid ( I mean who is going to see the back Apart from me?!)
You will need: - storage boxes, fabric, a sewing machine or overlocker, mod podge, a large brush and scissors - and obviously a cup of tea.
To prevent the edges of the fabric from fraying I measured and cut the front and lid pieces of material and then used an overlocker to sew around all the edges to prevent fraying.
It's important to have your fabric ready and near you as once you start putting the MOd podge on your boxes, it tends to dry quite quickly.
Once you have the surface completely covered in glue, you can then drape your fabric accordingly over the box - check the pattern is the right way up and evenly distributed.
When the fabric is in place you can then start to manipulate and push the fabric into the corners and smooth out any wrinkles and lumps.
Once you are happy with the overall effect you can then start to cut mitres to the corners and glue them separately in place and along the edges. It's a good idea to hold your glued corners in place with clothes pegs if possible.
Box 2
You will always have a few raw edges after cutting that will fray but with plenty of glue they should stay in place and the glue will stiffen the fabric to make it more hard wearing when taking on and off a shelf.
Not bad for a quick make over or a short term solution to add some decor and colour to your living space.
Materials used: All the orla Kiely fabrics were bought from Terrys Fabrics - www.terysfabrics.co.uk and I chose : Orla Kiely Linear Stem Curtain Fabric Papaya and Orla Kiely Spot Flower Curtain Fabric Seagrass.
You can buy Mod Podge from most craft stores - I got mine from www.artdiscount.co.uk.
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