Last month, the EGA offered an online class on box making. The class was taught by Sarah de Rousset-Hall and covers the box making method used by the Royal School of Needlework, which is different from the cartonnage method. We were given the option to purchase either a full kit, which included things like a cutting mat, ruler,... or a partial one. I opted for a partial kit as I was already equipped for cutting mount boards, what I was more interested is a sample of mount boards appropriate for box making. This will be useful to help track down more later. The fabric and threads are just a bonus allowing me to start the class sooner.
The class was broken down into three lesson, one dropped every two weeks. In the first lesson, we made the inside of the box. We learned how to accurately measure and cut our mount board.
The mount boards that go on the inside are padded with felt.
They were then covered with our lining fabric. We used the double sided sticky tape method to do this. I fussy cut my fabric. I wanted to have as continuous a look as I could.
In lesson two, we covered how the second method to cover the mound board. This was done through lacing. I watched the demonstration, but found that the lacing method I'd been using so far was more secure, so I stuck to that. The rule is you should always lace the pieces that will be visible on the outside or will have to sustain lots of manipulation.
The pieces are then assembled together around the inner box. There was lots of measuring every step of the way to make sure everything fit together, and it was a
very tight squeeze. I wasn't sure until the very end if it would work or not.
As an added bonus, in lesson 3, the class included a whitework monogram on the lid. This was a welcome lesson as I always wanted to learn this technique. I learned how to plan my padding, where it should be thicker and where it should narrow, how to not crowd my stitching so that it would look nice and smooth. I also learned of a better way to join padded string, this would definitely be useful in other embroidery techniques like goldwork.
It looks so pretty. I'm really happy how it came out.
Here's where I made a little oopsy. In order to have my feather chain look as symmetric as possible and end in the middle, I put in a tiny blue dot. Well I found out that this blue dot was not waterproof when I sprayed my piece from the back to iron it. I figured, meh! I'll accept my mistake, take it as a lesson and move on. I completed my lid and slept on it. Then an idea came: beads!
A little pearl and some white beads and voila! It actually looks even nicer with it. Gives it a nice elegant feel, while not only hiding my little blue mistake but also covering where the two ends meet.
This class was well worth the cost of the lesson and kit, I learned so much from all the tips Sarah shared and hope to apply them again in future.
