Faux Zebra Fabric Hat Box

Published November 24, 2011 | By Diana Romaxx

This whimsical piece started out as an old hat box that I had lying around for years. I even used it to store my craft paints at one time. About ten years ago, I got the idea to use some remnant pieces of animal print fabrics I had bought at a clearance sale at Minnesota Fabrics.

I measured this oval-shaped cardboard box and then measured the fabric. I carefully cut the fabric for the (outside) top and bottom of the box. Then I cut one long narrow strip of the fabric to cover the side for the top and a much wider strip of fabric for the side bottom part of the box. I also had some gauze-like zebra fabric that I used to line the inside of the box. This gauze-like fabric was very light and sheer yet it also had a visible zebra print that was very similar to the print on the heavier zebra fabric (that I used on the outside of the box).

I used hot glue to adhere the fabric to the box, yet I was careful to dispense very small dots of glue so as not to make it too bulky. I managed to smoothly glue the heavier fabric onto the outside of the box and the gauze-like fabric to the inside of the box. I then glued a black satin cording on the entire top edge of the box all the way around. I still love the way the box looks and I use it to store my little bottles of perfume that used to clutter my dresser.