Tutorial: Reversible Tissue Box Cover

Thanks so much for lots and lots of sweet comments
encouraging me to write up a tute for the tissue box cover
and I'm sorry I couldn't catch up with you guys sooner.
I had some other projects to wrap up and school kept
me pretty busy for the past few weeks. But here I am back
with the tutorial for a super easy + quick reversible tissue box cover!
Hope you'll enjoy.... ;)



***Fabric Measurements for a tissue cover that will
fit on a tissue box including Kleenex 200 ct.***

Exterior
Eight 7 1/2" x 2 7/8" pieces
Two 5 1/2" x 4 5/8" pieces

Interior
Two 7 1/2" x 10" pieces
Two 5 1/2" x 4 5/8" pieces

(1/4" seam allowances included)

***Other supplies***

elastic strip (3/4 wide, 5 1/2" long)



Let's cut out eight pieces for the exterior cover.
I chose 4 different fabrics, two pieces from each.



Now with right sides together, sew four
pieces together, aligning long edges.



Repeat it with the rest of the four pieces
and press seam open. Now you have two patchwork panels.



With right sides together, sew the top edge just 2 3/4"
for left and right sides leaving a big opening in the middle.
(Remember to backstitch at the end toward the middle.)



Press seam open, including the middle part which you didn't sew.



Now let's work on the sides of the exterior
cover. Cut out two pieces of fabric according
to the dimensions given above.



For each piece, make a little mark in the center in the
top edge which you can measure 2 3/4" from one side.



Match the mark on the piece with the center
of one of the long edges of the main panel.



Sew the top edge of a side piece onto the main panel.
Make sure to backstitch before you reach the seam
lines on the sides.



Clip into the seam allowance but make
sure not to cut beyond seam lines.
Do the same for the other side of corner.
(This makes the next step 10 times easier!)



Align the right edge of the side piece and
the main panel like this and sew them together.



Repeat it with the left edge of the side piece
so that one side of the exterior cover is complete.
(Important note: Make sure to trim the top corners
as depicted in the photo. Doing so makes the tissue cover
less bulky.) Now, repeat to sew the other side to
the exterior cover.



Hooray! The exterior cover is completed!
Let's now move onto the reversed side!



It would be perfectly fine if you choose to make patchwork
panels for the interior just like you did for the exterior,
but here I am simply using two panels cut out from just one
fabric just because I felt a little lazy. Forgive me ;)



Complete the interior cover in the exactly same way as the
exterior cover (in this case, excluding the patchwork part.)



In the center on one of the long edges of the exterior cover,
Baste a strip of elastic, very close to the edge.



Make a mark in the center of the other long edge.
This will be a reminder for you to sew the other
side of the elastic strip in between.



With right sides together, align and pin the the exterior and the interior.
Sew the bottom edges, starting from the point about
an inch away from the mark you just made.



When you're about to reach the mark, backstitch
about an inch away from the mark so that you have
two inches wide opening centering the mark.



Yup, Exactly. You don't wanna forget to attach the
other short edge of the elastic to the bottom! Using your fingers,
pull out the short edge of the elastic, place it
between the covers, and sew it up in place.



Turn the cover inside out and topstitch at the bottom.



Lastly, hand-sew the top part of the cover, connecting
the openings of the exterior and the interior.




Then your reversible tissue box
cover is complete!!! Woo Hoo!!






This cover will fit on a tissue box measuring 8.2" x 8.4".
(Kleenex 200ct, the most standard one that I found
at Walmart, will be perfect for this cover.)
I'll go and get other standard tissue boxes including
the cube one and come up with dimensions to make
tissue covers for them later, and share with
you the dimensions here.

I totally agree with some of you who told me that
it's so hard to find a tissue box at stores that
will match well with your rooms. It's just a tissue
box, but it make a pretty big, nice difference
if the one in your room is covered in the color/
design/pattern that you love to look at.
Trust me on this one!

Like some of you said, I think this will make a
great holiday gift. How about making a reversed
side a holiday pattern? ;)

When you make reversible tissue box covers,
Take a photo and share your tissue box covers
in this flickr group!

I'd also love it if you could let me know what you think
of this tutorial in the comments too!

Thanks for coming and reading!!