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Teddy's Sewing Box
By Marie Browning, Marie Browning Creates

A painted and stenciled paper-mache box makes the perfect hiding place for work in-progress, while also being a novel decorator item.  An ideal gift idea for a young person's first sewing box.  Surround the ready - made teddy with miniature sewing notions to portray a whimsical sewing room scene, or use the box with just the stenciled quilting motifs.

Material to make one teddy box:

• Paper-mache box, the sample box was a 41/2" X 6" diameter hexagon box.

• Small teddy bear, about 6" tall

• Assorted miniature notions (instructions in this issue)

• Americana Acrylic Paints: French Vanilla, Buttermilk, Burnt Umber, Forest Green, Cranberry, Wine, Extender and Satin Varnish

• Pigma pens: 1graphic black, .05 black

• Brushes; #10 flat, 2 medium stencil brushes, splatter brush, small natural sponge

Painting and stenciling the box:

• Basecoat the box and lid with two coats of french vanilla

• To give the look of muslin fabric, lightly sponge with the buttermilk color

• Thin the burnt umber paint with extender, then antique all the edges of the box with the sponge.  With the splatter brush and the thinned paint, splatter the box.

• With the quilt star stencil (design on pattern page), and the green and cranberry paint, stencil the motif around the box.

• Cover the box with one coat of satin varnish

• When the box is completely dry proceed with the 1 graphic pigma pen, add lettering around the lid rim.  With the .05 pigma, add details by adding stitch marks all around the stenciled motifs

• Arrange all the items onto the lid, rearranging until the desired effect is achieved.  Glue the teddy and the miniature sewing notions to the top of the lid with a thick designer glue when you are happy with the arrangement

Miniature Notions:

• Wooden spools -- For the sample, I used 5 wooden spools of various sizes and shapes.  First antique the spools with a wash of thinned burnt umber paint.  When dry, wrap the spools with color coordinated embroidery floss.  To end the thread, I made a slit in the top of the spool with an Xacto knife, then threaded the floss in.

• Embroidery floss skeins -- Remove the black label from a skein of embroidery floss,  Cut this tube into 1/4" wide pieces.  Take 16" of floss and wrap around two fingers to create a mini skein.  Thread the skein into the black label and glue to secure.

• Bolts of fabric -- Cut a piece of cardboard, 13/4" X21/2".  Cut a piece of coordinating fabric, 41/2" X 14".  Fold the fabric in half lengthwise, and then wrap around the cardboard base,  Secure the end with a small gold safety pin.  Add details with a .05 pigma if you wish.

• Ribbon skeins -- Cut 4" lengths of color coordinated ribbon. Fold the ribbon into a 1" skein.  Wrap the skein with 1/2" x 1" strip of paper for the label.  Using a .05 pigma, add label details.

• Pincushion -- Thread your needle with three strands of green embroidery floss.  With the threaded needle, sew a small gathering stitch around a 2" circle cut from red cotton fabric.  Stuff the circle with a small bit of fiberfill and pull tight to form pin cushion.  Make a few stitches to hold the gathers.  Take the needle through the bottom of the cushion to the top, wrap the thread around to the bottom.  Pull tight. Repeat this six times to create the sections of the pincushion.

• Embroidery hoop with stitch-work -- Use a plastic pill bottle top, about 1" diameter, and glue a piece of 21/2" fabric on top.  Wrap the edge with gold cord, gluing to secure.  Thread a needle with three strands of floss and make a few miniature stitches in your hoop.  Place the needle into the teddy's paw.  I clipped the end of the needle to make it blunt.

• Other sewing notions to add -- Buttons, small thimble, small gold pins, scissors charm, fancy pins (I placed these in teddy's mouth, which looked very cute, but it's a dangerous habit!)

Stencils for Teddy's Sewing Box

--an easy cut 'star' quilt block. Cut from mylar for a permanent stencil, or from freezer paper for a "one project use" stencil.  Hint: cut the heart with a decorative heart hole punch!

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