The Girl's Growing Up Box

This is a tutorial of a simple covered box. There is no sewing involved. You will need fabric, Elmer’s Glue, a hot glue gun, batting, a cardboard shoe box, and notions for decorating.

This is called the “Girl's Growing Up Box” because it is made for my niece who is growing up. It is filled with feminine hygiene supplies. It will also have a book about a girl’s changing body and there will be some chocolates as well.

I made one for my first niece as well. The most surprising thing she said was that she appreciated the book the most. It gave her a lot of information that she had questions on, but had been too embarrassed to ask. 

First, start by covering the outside part of the lid and the inside part of the bottom of the shoe box with batting. Do this by spreading Elmer’s Glue in a thin layer over the cardboard. It is helpful to use something to smooth out the glue or you will be able to feel the beads or raised line of glue after it dries. You can use a fast drying glue as well. Let the glue dry and set.

You may want to use pins to secure the batting until the glue dries. In places that batting is not used, clothes pins may be used, otherwise the clothes pins may form dips or impressions in the batting.

Then cover the outside of the bottom of the box and the outside of the top of the box with fabric. Use the Elmer’s Glue the same way as you did in the previous step. Make sure to smooth the glue to prevent bumps after drying. Allow the glue to dry and set. I use clothes pins in to hold the fabric in place because I put this fabric on before putting on the inner batting.

Cover the inner part of the lid with fabric by spreading a thin layer of glue over the top. Make sure the edges of the fabric are long enough to fold over onto the outside of the lid. If there is too much bulk from glue and fabric on the inside of the lid, it will be difficult to close.

Once you have glued the batting and fabric to cover the box, inside and out, then use lace, ribbons, or other notions to cover the seams. I used hot glue to secure the lace over the seams.

The box is basically finished. This lid was too plain to go with the rest of the box. So I added more lace and ribbon to the top of it with hot glue.

Here is the finished box ready for use.