Cherry and stitched suede Game Box

Greetings -

Thought I’d share a little project, or rather, learning experiment. :slight_smile: I wanted to do more needlework with yard and suede. So this project started as a misguided notepad, but let’s not talk about that. Several iterations, and a trip to makeabox.io I decided to go the easy route and make a box. I wanted to try wrapping the suede around the top / edge of plywood, I had already cut the holes in the wood and top suede spaced for spirals (notebook) so ya, that’s why the holes are so big. :wink:

The suede would not stretch to fit obviously. So I used 2 layers of felt between the box and suede skin, which also gave it a nice ‘padded’ feel. I also knew I wanted some kind of straps to tie the sides together, small squish rivets worked perfect for that, and the medium size for the patch. I didn’t do much ‘construction’ photos as this is just an exercise in weaving, and figuring out how long you need to go a certain distance, and to judge hole size, vs yard size, and needle size as well. Yada, yada, here it is -

It’s 8" square. Because that’s as long as the top could be, with the 1-1/4" wrap on either side, or top and bottom as it were, and be able to cut in one pass, ie the maximum height of 10.5". And yes, the bottom piece 'wraps both ways, it’s cut from an 18.5" x 18.5". Which was as big as I could get out of the Michaels suede pieces. Which means the height of the box has to be 4". Which is 8" with, plus 4" x 2, plus the 1-1/4" wrap around each ‘top edge’ x 2 = 18.5" :slight_smile: I made a jig to cut the tassled sides, Scored the Top and edges to line up each side of the bottom piece, taped down the piece of suede and rolled up the excess against the door of the GF.

And then wove, weaved, knitted I guess would be the most accurate. I have no idea it just looked like it would work. And knitted and knitted more. That seemed to take forever. And since I was trying to judge the length I needed for one pass, of different stitches. The longest one ended up 30’ of ‘loose’ yard, so probably a lot longer when stretched. Any way, it was lot. I also figured out I didn’t like my logo on the inside cover, and since it’s a gambox, thought felt would be better, so I stitched that &^^% on there too. :slight_smile:

Ya, should have stitched the felt ‘under’ the wrapped flap. But didn’t think about it until the top was done. But otherwise, I couldn’t have planned the size any better. I wanted atleast the small games we play the most often to fit. Yahtzee, Mexican train, Uno, regular cards and Cribbage. So there you go…

All fits no problem, even room for more card style games. Oh, and the felt top of course, for the action area. :slight_smile:

I just trimmed the ‘tassles’ to round them off. Would have done it in the original design, but again, I was just making it up as I went, to try different things. Like using a soldering iron to melt holes through the suede for the squash rivets. Anyway, pretty usable experiment and not too odd. :slight_smile:

HL

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I like it.

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Looks great

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Thanks for all of the photos and the detailed write up. Projects like this are so helpful to others.

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I like the wrap! Looks great!

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I think it turned out great!

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Hmm… when I think “Hellfire Club” and “dice” my mind conjures up d20s and d8s, not Yahtzee :rofl:

The box is gorgeous though!

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Greetings All -

Thanks so much.

my mind conjures up d20s and d8s, not Yahtzee

Ya, my kid made the patch a while back just for fun. It was sitting around so I thought a patch would look cool on top. And it was a test for using the squash rivets, since I made the top first. :slight_smile:

Detail on construction -

I also thought about riveting a handle on each side as it is pretty fairly heavy. But then you’d expect a strap of some sort to keep the lid on. That would be a version you would ‘transport’ somewhere, and carry more like a handbag. But then you would want to add feet too. And soon it seemed like it I was planning to make it something it really wasn’t. So I dropped those ideas and just went simple.

Then, after using it a little, I realized that it’s fine with the ‘loose’ lid as I’m just taking it off a shelf and setting it on a table. Likewise, without a handle and because it has some weight, you want to carry it in both hands, one on each side with fingers wrapped under the bottom of it. And, with the two layers of felt between the box and suede, it’s just plain feels nice and soft, and is quite pleasant to hold. A bonus reward, beyond the aesthetic and function.

HL

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Really cool project, and equally cool that you shared all the details. I especially like the felt ‘action’ area!

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HL

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Wow! Awesome!

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