Box update - the plan

Now I have a much better idea of what I want and how I'm going to go about it now. 

I'll try to add photos so that you can follow my waffle a bit better, but until then ...

The box as it is now (see photos here):
The box is cylindrical.  The lid drops into the body of the box, rather than drop down over the outside of the box.  Now, so that the lid doesn't fall right into the box there is a thicker part to the bottom 2/3 of the box and the lid sits on top of this.  So I have the space between the bottom edge of the lid and the bottom of the box to play with.  When the box was bought it contained some lovely toilettry bottles and these were kept in place by a circle of thick card with holes in it for each of the bottles.  This was held up from the bottom of the box by a strip of similarly thick card, which 'propped' it up (as a result, the bottle bottoms dropped down through the holes to the bottom of the box and the upper half of the bottle 'peeped' out of the circles cut in the larger cirle. With me so far?

The science bit (now concentrate!):
I want to separate this space into two and make a lift-out tray, so, I've measured the depth of the box (before the stop for the lid) and I'm going to use the strip that came with the box as the sides for the lift-out tray.  So, depth of box below 'lid-stop' minus depth of lift-out tray equals the depth of the comparment in bottom of box (or the depth of the strips I need to cut).  Are you following?

The plan is that I'll insert a double thickness of card around the inside of the box as a 'stop' for a removable tray (so it won't drop to the bottom of the box).  Now, I have a question/query about this.  The intention is to cover all these bits of card with velvet.  The card I bought isn't as thick as the original 'innards', so do I a) use a double thickness for the 'tray stop' then cover with velvet, or b)  would be that the thickness of the velvet be enough so that I only need to use one thickness of card?

Once I've cracked the 'lid-stop' I'm going to use a circle of card, glue a thin piece of upholstery padding to it and cover it in velvet.  Then this padded, velvety circle will drop (I hope it will be that easy) into the bottom of the box.  And hey-presto - I'll have finished the bottom compartment of the box.

When all this is done, I can move onto the 'lift-out tray'.  My plan is to use the innards that came with the box for this.  I'm going to stick the strip to the edge of the card circle (which I may replace with a new circle as the cut-outs in it may cause a bit of an issue).  I'll probably use something like a 'papier mache' technique of small pieces of paper to glue it at right angles to the circle, little by little.  I'll probably add a circle of padding to the tray before covering it too.

Now, for the covering.  I guess it would look best if I cut a strip of velvet that is wide enough to cover both the inside, edge and outside of the tray edge and sew it to a circle for the inside of the tray.  Then, carefully glue it to the inside of the tray, over the edge and down the sides, before hand-stitching the bottom circle to cover the underside of the tray.  PLEASE get in touch if you have any better suggestions.  This bit is scaring me a bit!!  If I remember (!) I hope to add a couple of small loops to the inside/top so that the tray can be lifted out easily.

Sampler design

I thought it was about time that I gave you an update on the sampler designing I mentioned in my earlier post.  Not that there is an awful lot to report.  It has been slow, to say the least.
I'm reasonably happy with the design.  It was a bit of a fiddle copying out all the various bits I'd found to create a comprehensive (I hope) whole.  I'm really looking forward to getting our new computer so that I can start using design software for this stage.  But adapting the design of 'big brother's sampler' was quite a good way to start, I think.
The next step was choosing colours.  Now, this is when I think the design software would have been REALLY useful.  Unfortunately, I don't have silks for all the colours I've chosen so far, so it is a little difficult to tell whether or not they'll all work together yet.  At the moment, what I have looks a bit 'bitty', but once I get the 'main colours', hopefully it will all start to look a bit more like a design (rather than a a bad jigsaw!).
Sorry - no photos this time.  I'll try to include one in the next update - once I have all the silks etc - so that you can see how I'm getting on.

A sample of samplers

As I think I've mentioned, I've been embroidering for years and years.  It all started when I was about 8 and I found an old biscuit tin of my late grandmother's full of embroidery silks.  I asked my mother what they were for and she explained and showed me ... the rest as they say is history!

I've been hooked ever since.  I think the first thing I embroidered was an unfinished tray cloth of my grandmother's (she died a year before I was born and was a seamstress and milliner).  I showed it to her sister and the following Christmas I got an embroidery kit for another tray cloth from her.  I still have both of them.

I've made sampler, followed by sampler, followed by picture, then another sampler ... you get the gist.  I'm ashamed to say that most of them are kits and not my own designs.  I've been a bit reluctant and unconfident about designing my own.  I have, however, made a number of friends samplers to celebrate weddings and births (but not for my sister, as she keeps reminding me!).

And that is where you/this comes in - I hope. 

Three years ago I made my (then, soon to be) brother in law and sister in law a sampler as a wedding present.  Then my mother in law asked for one too.  And last year I made two birth samplers for my cousins' children.  So, in a way, I'm on a roll. 

Then a friend recently asked if I'd make one for her daughter as a 'pair' for the one I made her son when he was born.  Embarassingly, I'd intended to make one when her daughter was born and had even bought the materials, but never got around to it (this seems a bit of a theme in my creative life!).  So, now I've embarked on my first true commission.

I'm not going to make the sampler I'd originally chosen and bought the materials for.  Instead, I'm going to adapt the design of her brother's - so this is a step towards designing my own!