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HOW TO DECORATE CARDBOARD BOXES WITH FABRIC - DIY UPCYCLE pretty storage for your home
14K views
Jan 15, 2025
This video will show you exactly how to cover your cardboard boxes with fabric to make them pretty. Select your fabric to co-ordinate with your home decor or perhaps make some to use as gift boxes / baskets. Upcycling is a great way to improve your home decor on a budget. Take a look and have a go. All you need is a box, fabric, glue, scissors, ruler and pen. If you like written instructions you can find those too at https://christines-crafts.com/how-to-make-fabric-covered-boxes/ If you love crafts check out my blog at https://christines-crafts.com/
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hi and welcome to christinescrafts.com
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today i'm going to show you how to
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upcycle your cardboard boxes using
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fabric
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so we're going to turn those ordinary
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delivery boxes into
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fabulous looking pretty storage
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okay so remember to subscribe below and
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ding the bell so you know when all my
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videos appear
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and today this is the sort of thing
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we're gonna do obviously
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what you make depends on the size of
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your box we're gonna cover it
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we're gonna line it if you want to
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that's optional i know you can use it
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for whatever
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mine clearly is full of vintage buttons
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so to start with you're going to need a
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box it doesn't matter what size it
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depends what you want to put in it or
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what box you've got available
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you're then going to need some sort of
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glue i've used fabric glue for this box
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but i've also been known to use spray
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glue to do them so it's up to you
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whatever you've got
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some scissors a ruler and some fabric
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now i've got two different ones one for
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the outside and one for lining the box
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it's entirely up to you they're just
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ordinary cotton
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again you could try different fabrics so
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i want to make sure my box is nice and
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tidy and ready for covering
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so i've decided to cut all the flaps off
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you could fold them in but they might be
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a little bit annoying so
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i just decided to cut mine off okay
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and there i've got it so place your
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material down
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put your box on it and just check that
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all the way around your fabric does
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reach
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up over the sides of the box and overlap
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into the top
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and then start measuring okay so what
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i've done
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is i've measured how tall my box is
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and then i've added on two inches and
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i'm marking it clearly
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i'm going to do that all the way around
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the box now
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because i'm using one corner of my
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fabric i just measured it to the edge
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and place the box so i'm
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drawing two sides of my rectangle you
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may need to draw all four
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but just draw them on any pen will do
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you're never going to see these lines so
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don't worry
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you can use a permanent marker if you
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like no one will ever see it i'm just
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using a biro
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once you've got a nice clear rectangle
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around your box
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you just need to cut it out
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hence the sharp scissors i have my own
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dress making scissors
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which to be brutally honest i hide in my
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house so no one cuts anything else with
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them
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i'm sure i'm not the only person that
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has to do that
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so keep cutting out
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and now make sure your fabric's flat
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your box is exactly the middle
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so just check all your measurements make
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sure it's in the right place you can now
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glue it down if you want to
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but i haven't done you're going to take
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your scissors
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and in turn you're going to cut in from
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each corner to the box
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now i've left about half an inch not cut
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i didn't cut
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right up to the box corner you need to
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do this for
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all four and then you'll be ready to
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start gluing your fabric to your box
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just cut in right at the corner
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to the corner of the box if you're
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worried about doing it you could always
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put a ruler on and draw a line first
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as you can see i didn't bother and there
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you go
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so the first thing you need to do is
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apply some glue to one of your longer
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sides if you've got a square box
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obviously it doesn't matter which side
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you go for but for me i've got a
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rectangular box so one of my longer
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sides
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i'm covering it in glue because of the
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type of glue i'm using i've just dotted
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it around
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and then spread it around with a craft
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stick
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you can use your finger but boy do you
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get gluey
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so to make sure you've got plenty make
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sure it's covered
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and as you can see i'm spreading it to
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make sure it goes to the edges as well
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and then if you didn't glue your box
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down recheck it
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make sure it's in the middle and fold
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that side up
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now make sure you get a nice smooth side
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and then worry about the edges so you
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can see i've pulled the edge tight
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and again i'm smoothing all the time
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make sure
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you've got it smoothed down against the
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box particularly on the outside where
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you're going to really see it through
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the other fabric if you don't
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you'll see me keep wiping my fingers
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it's just because i'm getting them gluey
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because obviously once i start handling
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the fabric that's covered in glue
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i get some on my hands and all i'm going
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to do now
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is repeat for the other side so you'll
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end up with both
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long sides glued onto your box
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so it's a repeat of the other side fold
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it up
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take the edges around make sure that
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side
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smooth and then bring the edges right up
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and round into the box
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smooth them down
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same on this side smooth it down
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and well done two sides of the box
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covered
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now make sure you're happy with it and
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then worry about one of the smaller
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sides
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so first of all just glue the triangular
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shape
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at either side because we're going to
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fold those
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in so that we get a nice rectangle for
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folding up the box
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it'll make sense in a moment so fold in
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one rectangle
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so you basically get a straight line
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from the box along your piece of fabric
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do the same at the other side if you
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have any little pointy bits sticking out
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just fold them in
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now you'll see i tried it wasn't happy
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with it no still too wide
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i'm going to refold
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once you're happy with it and you know
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it's going to fold up nicely and just
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fold into the box
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add some glue make sure you spread your
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glue right to the edges because
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otherwise you'll have an edge that could
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easily get caught and pulled up
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so you'll see i'm spreading that glue
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and making sure it's covering the whole
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thing
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the whole surface and then fold it up
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smooth it down fold it inside the box
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smooth that down and that's completed
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excellent now you're going to repeat
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that for the other end
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so once again you're going to glue your
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triangles you'll see me struggling now
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to get glue out of this bottle because
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i'm using it up
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spread the glue out
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and then you're going to think about
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folding them in to get that perfect
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rectangle
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again
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check it yeah quite happy this time see
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i learnt a lot from the first end and so
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will you
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again spread that glue out make sure it
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reaches
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right to the edge
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[Music]
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then fold your fabric up against the box
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and make sure it's nice and secure i
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found a thread i've got that off
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fold it up smooth it all the time
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press it down inside make sure it's all
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secure
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and there's your box if you're happy
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with that you can leave it at that
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if you want to line it you need to cut
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another piece of fabric identical to the
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first one
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and we're going to make a lining so take
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one of your shorter sides
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and just glue the triangles like you did
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before now we're working on the wrong
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side of the fabric here
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fold them in to make those nice ends
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of your box and we're going to do the
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same
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to the other short side
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now as you can see now i've folded some
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over this is all done on the wrong side
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at the moment
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it's important because we're going to
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turn it over shortly
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to glue those triangles and then fold
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them in to make a nice rectangle for
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either
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short end of your box
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and then we've got to work out how to
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make this into a lining
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so what you're going to do is each of
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your
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long sides you're going to take that
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triangle and fold it onto there like
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that and glue it onto there
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and glue it so we're going to turn the
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whole lot over
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because you're now applying glue to the
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right side of your fabric
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just do one triangle at a time
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or you will get very very gluey
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so apply glue to one and then we're
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going to take that rectangle
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and fold it over onto there so it lies
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flat
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and you'll see you're making a little
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point in the bottom the bottom corner of
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your box
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because what we're going to do is form a
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box shape
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okay so we're now going to take
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that other triangle from the other side
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and we're going to glue it to the same
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short side spread your glue out
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and then take that short side and put it
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over onto it again
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got a little triangle you're not happy
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with just tuck it in
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and you formed one end of your lining
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for your box
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you see how we've got little points at
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the bottom
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it's forming a box and all we're going
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to do
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is repeat for the other side so glue one
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of your triangles
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[Music]
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i'd just like to say if you use a fabric
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glue like i've done
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it stays very wet for quite a while so
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your box takes
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ages to dry because you've got the glue
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from the outer fabric and the glue from
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the lining
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so just bear that in mind that you might
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have a while to wait before you can use
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your box
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unless you use something like spray glue
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which is a lot quicker to dry
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so there we go we've got three sides the
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last triangle to do
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[Music]
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spread out your glue and then you're
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going to be
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placing that end on to form the last
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little corner of your
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your lining of your box
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and i'll hold it up try and show you
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you've basically formed a little fabric
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box it's too soft to call a box
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but it's going to slot nicely into your
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other box
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so pick up your lining and just place it
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into your box
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push it down wiggle it about make sure
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you're happy
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and then you're going to start folding
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those top edges over
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fold them all over get it so you think
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it's how you want it to be make it look
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nice
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check you're happy and then start gluing
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so just take one end apply some glue to
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that folded edge
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spread it out and then press it against
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the side of the box where you want it
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once you're happy peg it in place i'm
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using
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cloth pegs or clothespins depending
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where you're from
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great we'll just hold it there while it
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dries stops me pulling it while i'm
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doing the other bits
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just keeps it nice so let's glue this
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other end
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spread it out
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press it on
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you'll notice i'm a little bit down from
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the top of the box just to keep it nice
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and pretty
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all right let's check that side happy
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with it let's apply some glue
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it doesn't matter what you use to clip
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this together
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it's just to hold it there so whilst
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i've used clothes pegs on the end
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i'm going to use some stationery on the
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side so little clips that i normally use
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for holding papers together
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they'll work just as well
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you can see it's coming along nicely so
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let's do the final side
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[Music]
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let's press it on make sure it's smooth
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and we're happy with it if you've got
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some little wrinkles and folds and
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you're happy that's fine i have in there
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i'm not too worried about the lining
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i just think it looks nicer than the
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bare box
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put your clips on and leave it to dry
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box is finished
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so once one was dry it was vintage
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buttons i recently acquired these
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vintage buttons i wanted somewhere to
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store them and that's what the box was
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for
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so place whatever you want into your box
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and enjoy so much more inspiring when
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you come to it than just a plain
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cardboard box that you got something
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through the post in
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so i hope you enjoy your box making
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and that you feel inspired to make some
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pretty boxes
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so thank you for watching i hope you've
13:47
enjoyed it please subscribe below please
13:49
give me a thumbs up
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and ring the bell so you make sure when
13:52
i post another craft video
13:54
so thanks again bye
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