This afternoon I’ve been putting together my Periwinkle Box. I completed all the cross-stitch last weekend, all that was left to do was the actual construction of the box.

The Periwinkle Box is a kit from The Nutmeg Company which is based here in Yorkshire, they specialise in 3D cross-stitch designs, I’ve made one of their cottages before but at the Harrogate Knitting and Stitching show last October it was the boxes that caught my eye.

The kit contains everything you need, from a little square of wadding, pre-cut plastic canvas, threads and fabric. The instructions are pretty straightforward, I would have preferred cutting instructions to be a bit more specific, for example, rather than ‘cut square slightly bigger than lid’, I would prefer ‘cut a 6cm square’. My only other negative comment would be that I think they could be a tad more generous with their fabric, just a cm or two, the instructions say to stitch with at least 1.5cm all round each piece, my fabric wasn’t actually big enough for that, it was enough as it turned out but it did cause some consternation. Having said that, it’s a great design and I won’t hesitate to buy their kits again.

This is a seriously small box! It’s 4.5cm square and 3.5cm high!! It’s constructed in the traditional way by lacing, which I like, though it’s over plastic canvas rather than cardboard which I’m still not sure about, though it does have  the advantage that you can flex it whilst sewing  without risking a crease and I suppose in theory it’s washable!!

The lid sides were probably the fiddliest bit, just because they were so narrow, trying to lace the sides and then stitch lining over the back. I’ve made boxes this small before, but always from a finer fabric, such as Liberty tana lawn, or silk dupion, aida is quite bulky to get the corners neat.

The box is lined with a lovely soft shade of blue evenweave linen with a raised lip to hold the lid in place. The box lining is one square smaller in plastic canvas than the outside, which makes sense, except I found it a fraction too small, a millimetre or two at that size does make a difference and with plastic canvas you can’t be as precise in sizing as with cardboard. I used a curved needle to stitch the rim to the sides, which did help I think.

I’m pleased with my Periwinkle Box, I would have liked to get it a bit crisper on the edges and corners, but I think with the weight of the fabric, it’s pretty good. My next kit from The Nutmeg Company is a little bigger, which I am somewhat relieved about!

Linking with Kathy’s Quilts for Slow-Stitching Sunday and Super Mom No Cape for Vintage Embroidery Monday, why not have a look what everyone else is sewing?