How to Make a Photo Memory Box Out of Swiffer Box

Swiffers are a presoaked cleaning cloth designed to fit Swiffer mops and dusters. They speed up the time it takes to mop or dust a floor immensely. The cloths come in a rectangular plastic box with a lid on top which keeps them from drying out.

If you use Swiffers, rather than throw the plastic boxes away, recylce or repurpose the boxes.

Some of the ways to repurpose these include storing screws, nuts, bolts, sandpaper, and other items in them.

Use as a photo memory box

To make the box, first wash and dry the container thoroughly. Next, find some fabric that you like to wrap the box. (My box was 12 5/8" long by 7" wide.) The inside of my frame was 5 inches wide. This left a space of 2 5/8 inches on the outside of the frame to the inside of the frame on the opposite side of the box. in this area, you could add decorative elements, such as fabric roses, covered buttons, or inspirational words)

Trace Your Lid With Chalk onto Fabric

Fold your fabric in half, wrong-side out. Lay your fabric with wrong-side face up. Lay your lid on the fabric and trace around it with chalk, allowing 3 1/4 inches on each side for seam allowance and to form a frame. My frame was 1 1/2 inches wide on each side and 1 1/4 inches on the top and bottom.

Cut around your chalk lines. Unfold your fabric and fold the right side of the fabric edges in 1/4 inch to the wrong side of the fabric. Pin in place and sew. This will keep the edges from unraveling.

Make Your Frames for the Lid
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Sew your frame by folding the overlap edges (you just sewed 1/4 inch seam) over 1 1/2 inches, pin and sew.

You should now have a cover for your lid, that you can just slip your lid inside. So, slip your lid inside the cover to make sure it fits snugly. Remove and make any adjustments if needed.

Make a Poster Board Insert to go in the Bottom of the Box

Cut a piece of poster board to fit inside the box bottom. An easy way to do this is to simply place the box bottom on the poster board and draw around it.

Make a Cover for the Container

Lay your box on the wrong side of the fabric. Trace around the box with chalk, allowing an overlap of about 3 inches. Cut the fabric. Lay your box back on top of the wrong side of the fabric and pull the fabric over and into the inside of the box. Mark where you need to trim the fabric with a piece of chalk. You will want the fabric to meet in the middle.

Remove the fabric, trim as needed, hem the edges with 1/4 inch seam to keep from raveling. Put your box back down on the fabric (with the right side of the fabric face down). Pull the fabric inside the box again, folding the corners into an envelope shape to fit neatly inside the box. Place the poster board insert over the fabric inside your box.

Make Fabric Strips to Hold Box and Lid Together and to Form a Frame

With your left over fabric, cut strips about 3 1/2" wide and 2 1/2 times the length of your box--these will go on the top and bottom of your box as a frame. Turn the edges under 1/4 inch from right side to wrong side of fabric and sew to keep from raveling.

Then, cut strips 3 1/2' wide for the sides of your box. Turn the right side of the fabric under 1/4" to the wrong side and sew to stop from raveling. Press these with an iron to make it easier to pin and sew.

Cut elastic the same length for each one of your strips. To sew the elastic inside a strip, place the elastic at the edge of the strip. Fold the fabric over to meet the edge of the strip where the elastic sits. Sew a seam down this edge. Turn your fabric right side out. Do this for all four strips. When finished sewing, simply loop each strip around the box--one on the bottom, one on the top, and one at each side.

See diagrams for help in designing this.