Make this: Fabric Pop Up Bins

First off: be warned.  Making these fabric pop-ups is addicting. They’re cute, they’re  functional, and they pop-up! This can not be overstated. Something about collapsing them and popping them up again is very satisfying.

These are great to have in the craft room or any room for an instant place to put tools, scraps, yarn – all kinds of things. Once you no longer need it just collapse it and stash it anywhere. The finished popped-up size is about 5.5″ x 6″ tall.

This Pop-Up Kit from Fat Quarter Gypsy contains a heavy duty metal spring, an elastic binding band and pattern for making a collapsible canister from one fat quarter of fabric.

The pattern contains everything but a fat quarter and 3/8 yard of light to midweight fusible interfacing.  You’ll also need 4 large safety pins. I found Dritz Curved Safety Pins easier to use than regular safety pins in this application. Clover’s Wonder Clips and a Frixion pen are super helpful, too, but not required.

After you’ve made the first pop up and need to make a few more, you can buy the pop up as a refill without the pattern.

The directions are easy to follow and have important tips written in red.  Pay attention to these as they are very helpful!

I decided to get fancy with the 4^th pop up. (I told you they were addicting.) Digging through my stash, I found 2 great cat themed fat quarters.  After constructing the pop-up, I roughly fussy cut a cat from the 2^nd fat quarter and fused it on with HeatnBond Ultra.

I then trimmed around the cat and peeled off the paper backing.  I found a spot for it between the ribs of the pop-up.  I rolled up a bath towel (you could use anything that is heat proof) stuck it inside the pop-up and ironed it in place.  A Clover Iron is perfect for this tight little spot.  I think it turned out pretty cute!

(addition 3/2018 – Fat Quarter Gypsy now makes Mini Pop-Ups! Find all the patterns at Craft Warehouse).