How to Use Plastic Canvas to Make a Box
Plastic canvas is a stiff plastic grid with small, square holes. Its versatile nature makes it ideal for all manner of crafting projects, from bookmarks to coasters to a full box with a lid. The ability to sew into the holes in plastic canvas allows you to decorate it with cross stitch or needlepoint patterns, hiding the plastic under the yarn. Plastic canvas is stiff and sturdy, and becomes even more so when reinforced with a sewn-in pattern.
Instructions
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Use a ruler and magic marker or crayon to plot out the size of your box on a flat sheet of plastic canvas. If you already have a box the size you want, trace around the sides, bottom and lid. Make four identical pieces for the sides of the box, counting the holes as you go to make sure all four sides have an equal number.
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Leave several extra holes on the lid edges to make sure it fits, and, if desired, cut out four thinner pieces to edge the sides of the lid and fit securely over the box. A standard length for lid sides is 2 inches, but you may want a longer or shorter lip.
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3
Thread a needle with yarn and whip stitch the sides of the box to the bottom. Bring your needle through a hole in the canvas from underneath, then through the first hole at a diagonal in the piece to which you are stitching. Pull the yarn through the top of the hole you are sewing into, then under the next diagonal stitch in the base piece, sewing up and to the left. You always work from under one piece of plastic and over the next, at a diagonal.
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Sew up the sides of the box. At each top corner, tie off the yarn and thread the end down through the stitches on that side of the box.
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Use the same technique to sew the lip pieces to the lid. You are, in essence, making two boxes--a deep one that serves as the main box, and a shallow one to serve as the lid.
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Tips & Warnings
Compensate for the thickness of the sides of your box with the overlap of the lid. If you sew a design into the plastic canvas, thus filling all the holes with thread, you may wish to cut the lid piece last to make sure you have enough ease for it to fit the box.
