Making a quilted tissue box cover

Like many of you, I love to shop the big box stores. You know, the kind of store that sells salad dressing by the half gallon; ground beef in 5 pound packages, and tissues 12 boxes to a package. I love the deals and will buy, buy, buy! For the most part I manage to use up what I buy before the due date on the packaging, so the quantity I need to buy to score the big savings is not a problem. Tissues are great because they don’t go bad! The only issue I have is the appearance of the tissue boxes themselves. Have you ever noticed that the boxes never match your decor? I was talking about this with a friend a while ago and she agreed that too often, naked tissue boxes bought in bulk are not very pleasing to the eye. Being a quilter, I started to think of a quilted tissue box cover…

As I was trying to come up with a topic for today’s blog I remembered the humble tissue box. So, today, I’ll show you how to create a quick and simple quilted tissue box cover that will elevate a boring tissue box into a work of art! I’m using Northcott’s Bundle of Love collection, to make it.

Let’s get started.

For this project you first need to measure the tissue box

1. To calculate how long the piece of fabric needs to be, you need: height + length + height + 1” = length of fabric.
2. To calculate how wide the piece of fabric needs to be, you need: height + width + height + 1” = width of fabric.

** The reason I add an inch to both measurements above is that I prefer to begin with more fabric than needed. I’ll cut off the excess fabric before putting on a binding. Remember, it’s easier to remove fabric than it is to add!

For efficiency, before I start cutting the fabric I prepare by layering the top fabric, the batting and the backing fabric so I can cut all three layers at once.

Once the layers are cut to the specific width and length measurements, I pin the top fabric, the batting and the backing fabric layers together. The reason for this is I’m going to machine quilt the layers together.

The quilt design can be very simple or very complex. In this example, I’ll quilt using a very simple design.

This small project is a great opportunity to practice a quilting design you’ve always wanted to try. Go for it!

Once you completed the quilting, place the quilted fabric right side down on the work table. Center the tissue box on the fabric. With the marking tool of your choice trace around the edge of the box.

After marking the outside edge of the box, extend all lines to the outer edge of the fabric and remove the box from the fabric.

Fold fabric, short edge to long edge, ensuring the lines are perfectly aligned, then pin.

 Sew ⅛ʺ next to the outer edge of one seam on each side of what will be both ends. For the other two seams sew directly on the line.

Once the seams are sewn, cut off the points ¼ʺ from the seams.

After the points are cut, turn the cover inside out. Place the tissue box in the cover. Using a marking tool, mark the fabric at the edge of the box.

Using the mark as a guide, cut off the excess fabric. You’re now ready to put a binding on the cover.

For this project I used 2¼ʺ wide binding. Prepare the binding as you would for a quilt and sew it to the edge of the cover.

Once the binding is attached, fold it over the edge of the cover, pinning the binding in place as you go. Since we used a 2¼ʺ binding, the binding will be wider on the inner side of the cover. This will ensure that as you machine sew the binding in place, you’ll stitch through all fabric and batting layers while catching the binding in the inside of the cover.

After adding the binding to the edge, draw a straight line approximately 4″ long on the center of the box cover. Cut along this line.

Almost there! The last step is to attach a binding around the 4” opening. To do so, repeat the steps described above. As the opening is small you’ll need just a little patience.

The quilted tissue box cover is now ready for its tenant: the ugly tissue box.