Shoe Box for 18” Dolls

Watch the video here.

If you have been following this blog you might have read the Allison's Journal post about shoe shopping (you can see it here). I wrote that blog post to feature some of the shoes I am making this month for the sewing challenge on my doll sewing group. (more about that at the end of the month in the sewing review) When I wrote that blog I decided that for the story line I wanted to have the shoes in shoe boxes. After all when you buy shoes they usually come in shoe boxes. 

shoes and their shoe boxes

 

Since boxes are pretty easy to make it didn't take me much time to make a bunch of them. After the blog went live I got a bunch of requests for a tutorial on how I made the boxes. So here we are- how to make shoe boxes. Really how to make any kind of lidded box. You are only limited in size by the size of the paper you can find.

Since we are talking about paper- I am using cardstock from the craft store. The kind the cardmakers and scrapbookers use. It is heavy enough to hold its shape but light enough to fold nicely. It also comes in a rainbow of colors and in many designs. As for the design paper- I find that most of the stuff I find that is sold by the sheet is too lightweight for this kind of project. Look for the stuff that is sold in tablets for card making. It can be spendy at regular price but comes on sale regularly. 

the cardstock I used

 

cutting mat, ruler and knife

The other supplies and tools you will need are:

a work surface

a craft knife (or scissors)

ruler

cutting mat (if using a knife to cut)

scoring board (optional I show you how to score with out it in the video)

glue

scoring board

clips

wet wipes or a damp cloth

wet wipes, glue and clamps

The box I show in the video is a pretty average size shoe box. It measures 1 ½” tall and has a foot print of 2” by 4”. Most small shoes should fit into it. If you want to make it larger here is one process to use to find your cutting size.

Figure out first how tall you want your box to be in the example mine is 1 ½” then decide if you want to fold over the top edge (I really recommend you do) I usually fold over ½” so add these two amounts together (2”) then multiply by 2 (4”) Now you need to decide how big you want the bottom of the box. Ours in the video is 2” by 4” so we now need to add the side measurement to these two measurements to get our cutting size. In this case I cut the paper for the box 6” by 8”. If you want to make a larger or smaller box just follow this procedure. 

my pattern templates for this size box

 

Now for the box top. I like to have a double edge on the top so I fold over ½” on each side. Since for a shoebox the lid side is pretty minimal I used ½” for that measurement too. If you are making a larger kind of box just add whatever your measurement is to the ½”. Again multiply this by 2 so for this shoe box- ½” plus ½” is 1” times 2 is 2”. Now so that the lid will fit over the sides of the box neatly add 1/8^th” to the size of the box bottom. For this shoe box that made a measurement of 2 1/8” by 4 1/8” add the 2” to that to get the cutting measurement of 4 1/8” by 6 1/8”. Pretty simple really.

I always make up a trial box out of scrap paper before I cut into my good cardstock. This way if your math is off you can make corrections with scrap paper instead of wasting the more expensive cardstock. This trial can be any weight paper I usually grab some printer paper out of my recycling bin.

Once I have my measurements figured out I also make up a “pattern” from some printer paper with all the lines drawn on where I am going to score/fold and cut. I keep these all together so I can refer to them next time.

Our next step is to score on all the fold lines. On this box that is super simple we score at ½” and 2” from each edge of the box and at ½” and 1” from the edges of the lid.

Next pre-fold on all score lines, this makes it so much easier to cut the next step and also means neater folds in your finished box.

Cut the sides free from the ends of the box and on the box part I cut off the fold over area on those sides. It just eliminates a lot of bulk in the finished box.

Follow the steps I used to glue your box together and you are finished.

I usually clamp my edges until the glue dries but it might not be necessary depending on what glue you use. Just be sure all the glue is dry before you put the lid onto the box.

So there you have it a shoe box. I think you might find these a bit addictive once you start since they are so easy and oh so cute when done.