Composed Mondrian Felt Boxes

A friend presented me with an interesting design challenge. She wanted some sturdy felt boxes for storing her daughter’s toys. While she had seen something workable in a container store, she preferred to spend her money on a live person, so I got the job.

The boxes I’d made previously were sewn from a single piece of flat felt, with finished dimensions around 6″ square; the new boxes were meant to fit into cubby holes 13″ square. Taking into account shrinkage rates, I didn’t have a work space large enough to create a single piece of felt that large.

The design that worked in terms of structure and size was sewing many smaller pieces of felt together with reinforced side seams. The box in the top left is sitting with the seams on the inside; I preferred them inside out as the corners were more defined.

Visiting my friend a few months later, I was delighted to see the boxes in action, filled with blocks, puppets and balls.