Date: 11/14/09 9:04 AM

I have been tryng the freebie patterns and tutorials online for sewing fabric bowls and boxes for Christmas gifts. What a great way to use up all those scraps!

Questions:

None of the patterns show fastening down the inside liner when you make an oval or square box--any tips on that? I'd like to make three-size-sets of the boxes (like the commercial woven-basket type) with nice smooth squared linings.

Stiffening? I didn't like the look of the batting type interfacing, and some of the heavy interfacings are hard to turn on small projects.

Any other joining methods for the curved bowl other than basic zigag satin stitching? How do you determine the curve for a taller bowl? (without too much math!)

My hint: I discovered round and rectangular placemats, found on sale in places like Ross and Kohl's, work! They already have the stiffening inside and can be shaped into boxes and bowls.

Reply to gramma b
Date: 11/18/09 8:18 PM

That's a good tip about the placemats! I have made a fair number of bowls, and I tend to like the more free-form ones, which the placemats would work well with. Those use canvas as a stiffener. I have not experimented much with other ways to join the edges. Since the edges are raw, they may fray a bit with time and you may want them enclosed pretty solidly. the books "Fast, fun and easy fabric bowls" and a follow up are good references and are easy to get at the library. There is a FF and E version for boxes, too....

search for the word "bowls" in the search box, upper left


-- Edited on 11/18/09 8:19 PM --

------
Viking Lily 545
Viking Scandinavia 400
Bernina Activa 210
Brother 1034d