This is a review of the book “Making Decorative Fabric-Covered Boxes” by Mary Jo Hiney. Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., New York, 1996.
Y’all, I haven’t been doing embroidery all that long, but I can already see that it won’t be long before I have many more finished works than wall space to hang them on. So I’m starting to look for solutions. This book is all about making decorative fabric-covered boxes! I think making boxes in this book (or variations on them) with my own embroidery for decoration would make fantastic gifts (either to myself or to someone else). There’s a huge variety of boxes in this book (21 of them to be precise), and instructions and patterns for all of them.
They come in all kinds of shapes, with different lids and hinges and drawers.
There are some simple designs too, but I really love the fun ones! You’ll have to get the book to see the ones I didn’t post photos for. They’re all great.
embroidery for ducks 
I have “Why Not Embroider Boxes”, but the authors’ designs are a lot more ….boxy and a lot less imaginative. Also, they include instructions for the embroidery. Whilst some of the designs are very pretty, I prefer to use my own embroidery, so much of the book is wasted in embroidery instruction, (for me) and I’d just skip to the finishing instructions if I were to make a box from that book.
I like the flair these have.
Poking around the Net, she has done a later book – Making Romantic Fabric Covered Boxes.
http://www.amazon.com/Making-Romantic-Fabric-Covered-Boxes-Hiney/dp/0806999969/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313187012&sr=1-1.
I love the box in your first photo – with the silk gathered top.
Me too – it’s very pretty. And it looks fairly easy.