A Political Thread Box for 2012

I made a thread box in the tradition of 19th-century campaign memorabilia.

Going back to this Andrew Jackson box from about 1830.

I bought a fat quarter of the Obama campaign fabric I put up on the Spoonflower.com site.  I fussy cut it for the top. I decided to cut the fabrics 5" square so this pattern would work for a charm pack, which contains 42 squares, 5" each.

You need:

• 12 squares of fabric.
• Cardboard scraps.
• A little fiberfill to stuff the top.
• A button for a pull.

See the Obama Campaign Fabric here:

http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/1332531

I used pieces from my new Civil War reproduction line Metropolitan Fair. I decided to cut from yardage (because I have the yardage that's been air-freighted in.) The yardage won't be in the shops for about 6 weeks, but the Charm packs are available now. I used the little star for the bottom and the sides.

Cut 5 inch squares of fabric

For the top: cut 1.

For the sides: cut 4.

For the insides: cut 6.

For the outside bottom: cut 1.

12 in all.

If you are using charm squares you might want to sort them into darks and lights because you get some nice contrast when you open the box.

Cut 6 pieces of cardboard. I used scraps but you might want to use white mat board. I cut these 4-1/4" square.

Pair off the fabric squares and place them face to face to sew up like little pillow cases. Clip the ends and turn inside out. Press.

Insert the carboard and finish up the top with a whip stitch by hand. (You could probably do this on the machine.) Press.

For the top I added a handful of fiberfill so it could be a pin cushion.

Then whip stitch the finished squares together. Here's how they go. You are looking at the inside of the box.  The lighter pink square in the center is the bottom of the box. The blue square to the right is the top (upside down). I left those threads hanging because I still have to whip stitch the sides together to make a box.

Be sure to put the candidate with his chin towards the opening for the top. I did that wrong the first time. I added a button for a handle, but you could make a little loop too.

It's a thread box and a pincushion

and a souvenir of the 2012 election.

I plan to put this in the American Quilt Study Group's charity auction that raises funds for the group at the annual seminar in October. I made something with limited edition campaign fabric for the last election and raised a lot of money.

I suggest you use this campaign fabric to make gifts and fund raisers. The print is copyright by me, but you may buy it and make things to sell for charity or profit. That's why we print fabric.

 

 

Political Campaign Fabric: 2012

Among the earliest campaign memorabilia is this pair of cardboard thread boxes or sewing kits from the presidential contest between John Quincy Adams (on the left) and Andrew Jackson. Each features a portrait of the candidate in the box top and rainbow printed paper sides.

The tops have pincushions with mottos

"Victory for Adams"

and

"Don't Forget New Orleans"

Here's another Jackson box with the lid flipped over to show the portrait under glass. The boxes are attributed to the 1824 or 1828 campaigns.

They measure 4" x 5" x 2-3/4" tall.

A hexagonal box for John Quincy Adams also survives.

The pincusion says "People's Choice" and here is the lid flipped over.

Jackson portrait fabric may have also been a campaign souvenir. This portrait of him in uniform harks back to the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812.

The print was reworked for the 1876 Centennial.

See more about this fabric on a blog post here:

http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2010/05/lafayette-or-jackson.html

My friend Georgann and I have been making campaign boxes for 2012.

You may recognize the incumbent in this new version of the Jackson print.

I made some new campaign fabric by dropping the official President Obama portrait into the old Jackson fabric. I used the 1876 print and coloring because it has sharper detail.

I printed out small pieces on my color printer.

But maybe you would like some 2012 campaign fabric.

So I decided to make some 2012 Democrat campaign fabric that people can buy from Spoonflower.com, which is a print-on-demand fabric site. I put the image into the Spoonflower repeat system and this is what came up.

Here's what a fat quarter looks like.

You can buy this yardage from Spoonflower by clicking here:

http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/1332531

See more about Spoonflower's custom fabric printing service here:

http://www.spoonflower.com/welcome

A how-to on the square thread box next post.