Things of Beauty and Utility 4 - Railway Track Chest

Old Tuck Chest recovered in Railway Tracks Fabric

A mess of railway track pieces

I continue to do battle with Estelle's endless pile of toys - and this week, I declared war on the railway track pieces which were just shoved into the box they came in! 

Old tuck chest destined for skip

I decided to recover an old tuck chest which had been destined for the skip using my new railway track design fabric.  I thought the silver edging would be a great contrast for my railway track design and would fit in with the theme perfectly.

Stiffen fabric and cut

  I measured out each section of the chest and cut a piece of my fabric slightly bigger than that section.  I reinforced each section with iron on fabric stiffener.  When I cut the panels, I made sure the panels would connect up.

Trace shape of panel

I then taped each of the sections over the appropriate part of the chest.  I used a sharp pencil to trace out the lines of the silver edging.  By pressing hard, I was able to trace the shape fairly accurately.  In some sections (like the handle and lock) I had to slit the fabric - a bit like when you're wallpapering and you need to slit an area for the light switch.

Panels cut to size

Slit cut for handle

 You can see here what the panels looked like from the back.  I put glue over the corresponding part of the chest and slid the panels into place.


I used a piece of plastic to wedge the fabric under the silver edging.

The finished re-covered chest!