(The following took place on the week of September 12, 2023)

This will be the last article in this project series :astonished: Continuing from my last article here, I’ll be applying the fabric to the inside of the box, and that will finish the project! At the end, I’ll show some pictures of the final result, placed in its final location :checkered_flag:

:eyes: Starting Point

As a quick reminder, here is the state of the box at the end of the last article. The finish has been applied to the outside. The nighttime kitchen lighting made this wet finish look even more different than it will look in natural lighting and dry.

hair bow box lid finish drying
The lid of the box, indoors, drying on a shop towel
hair bow box finish drying
The box, indoors, drying on a shop towel

:sheep: Fabric

The next day, I went to JOANN Fabric and Crafts with my wife :woman:, who was sooooo burdened to be there :wink:, and she helped me pick out some thick, soft, spongy fabric for the box. I wanted her opinion on the color since she’ll be looking at it every day, so I wanted her to be happy with it.

We settled on a pale blue color of fleece for the fabric, which I think will also compliment the wood color. But, how can I attach this to the box? The adhesives I saw in the store were all sprays (and very expensive :scream:), but I want more control over where the adhesive goes than a spray would give me.

My ideal adhesive should have the following characteristics, in no particular order:

  • can work on wood and fabric (obviously)
  • easy to apply and in a uniform thickness, and is not a spray
  • working time of at least a minute, ideally longer
  • will not easily soak through my thick fabric, making the fabric stiff instead of soft
  • does not contract when drying as to not warp the fabric

Back at home, I do a quick test with two glues I always keep on hand: wood glue and CA glue (superglue). I do keep hot glue on hand, but it doesn’t satisfy my requirements of uniform thickness and working time.

hair bow box fabric glue test
Testing wood glue and CA glue on scrap pieces of fabric and plywood

Thankfully, the wood glue works better than I expected! In fact, it held even better than the CA glue. I believe this is because the CA glue is so thin that it soaked through the fabric and didn’t have enough surface area to hold onto the wood. When I pushed the fabric onto the wood, I felt some glue get on my hands through the fabric, breaking that requirement before the test had even started!

Wood glue it is!

I take my time cutting out the fabric and slowly applying the wood glue to the box, one side at a time, while I hold the fabric in place. Because the wood glue is so thick, the fabric is secure enough to hold itself to the wood while I work on each side :relaxed:

Plus, something I didn’t realize would be a big benefit is how the fabric being so thick would allow me to stretch or contract it just enough to let me massage the fabric perfectly flat and uniform across all the surfaces. It really made a huge difference to the look and feel of the fabric!

Before I know it, the fabric is all done! And WOW does it look and feel good. The fabric feels so soft and spongy, and it also feels sturdy at the same time.

I’ll wait until tomorrow when it’s completely dry to take it to its final location.

hair bow box fabric completed
The box with the fabric applied to the inside, just needs to dry

:framed_picture: Final Reveal

I. am. so. PROUD :star_struck:

And my wife is so happy with it! :woman: :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

Nothing more is needed to make me feel like this was a successful project!

hair bow box final reveal
Final hair bow box reveal, in its final location on my wife’s :woman: nightstand
hair bow box final reveal closed
Closeup of the box, with a hair bow visible inside, having just been dropped in through the hole
hair bow box final reveal open
Closeup of the box, with the lid open, showing the hair bows inside and the fabric on the inside

:scroll: Project Conclusion

Yes, there are things I will want to do better the next time, but nobody will notice them but me, unless I tell them! And I’m not going to tell them :laughing:

Even with those things, I am so incredibly proud of this! It is my first woodworking project in a very long time, and I made everything from the user requirements list, to the design, and finally to this finished box itself.

I surpassed my expectations for myself, both in what the final product would look like and how much fun I had doing it. I can definitively answer the question I set out to answer when I started this project: “yes, I absolutely do want to get back into woodworking” :smiling_face_with_tear:

It’s at this point that I started thinking about making this blog. I want to document my journey and share it with others, as well as my future self. Plus, my wife :woman: has really enjoyed reading about everything that went into her box! I’m writing this several months later (until my blog gets caught up with present time), and she still uses it! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

I look forward to sharing more details with her and you as I make not just wooden furniture in our house, but also electronics and software engineering for our home. I hope you’ll join me on this journey, and sign up for my newsletter at the bottom of this page :smiley:

:space_invader: Pixel

Updated:

You May Also Enjoy

DONE! Airy Bookshelf DIY Final Results!

11 minute read

I started this project to learn basic woodworking skills to make furniture and wooden house projects. Like many woodworkers starting out, I wanted to do a...