On Friday I started making a fabric box to put our wedding album in, you can read about the first stage here. Well I’ve made good progress today, lots of hand-stitching and I’ve even mastered a new skill!

I laced the sides in one long strip, checking they were abutting each other firmly. It was a long piece of lacing, particularly as I was trying to keep it flat to maintain the tension. I prefer lacing boxes to gluing, I’ve done both and gluing is certainly quicker, but inevitably with me its also messier, I used to find glue had crept round to the board edge, making it difficult to sew.

The sides were measured to allow the short sides to abut onto the long sides, so the long sides were cut to the length of the base plus the thickness of the cardboard at each side. I stitched the seams with ladder stitch, I struggled with my usual needle to get the angle. I remembered somewhere at the bottom of my needle drawer I had some curved needles, I’ve had them for years but never got the hang of using them. Well today they worked beautifully…perhaps it was the fact that it was the ideal project to use a curved needle, the hard board curved the needle round…or perhaps years of assisting doctors in operations has finally paid off…I have finally mastered the curved needle!

I was really pleased stitching the sides to the base as the base fits in beautifully. So the first stage has gone well!

This evening I finished the embroidery for the heart, yesterday I appliqued the crazy quilt heart to the silk and started embroidering part of our wedding vows around it ‘To have and to hold…’ well today I embroidered ‘…from this day forward’ I then decided to put the date on the opposite side. I found that a lot more challenging as I had to stitch it backwards, as in 7002 hcraM ht71, in order to make sure it finished at the right spot. Just creating the letter backwards was hard enough!!

I’ve now to decide what kind of lid to make, a drop down lid with sides on, or a hinged lid. I think a hinged lid is easier and less work, but if it’s slightly off it’s really noticeable. A drop down lid is a lot more work with sides which also need lining, but it’s probably a bit more forgiving if the size isn’t perfect..so long as it’s not too small!

I think I need to read Jane Lemons ‘Embroidered Boxes’ book this evening to help me decide…what do you think?

Shared with Slow stitching Sunday on Kathy’s Quilts