15 Minute Upcycled Fabric Tray Tutorial

Use these 15 minute upcycled fabric tray tutorial to sew adorable fabric trays. These cute little fabric trays are a great beginner project. They stitch up quickly and are a very handy cute little item to have dotted around your sewing room. Use them to catch threads or keep your little sewing notions tidy and easy to grab.

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You will need:

An old pair of jeans

1 FQ Quilting cotton (We used fabrics from the Makower Summer Garden collection)

Heavy Iron-on Interfacing or a woven interfacing. We used this Woven Interfacing – grab 10% off with WOVEN10

Temporary fabric marker

Thread

Important notes for sewing 15 minute fabric trays:

3/8″/ 1cm seam allowance throughout, unless directed otherwise.

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15 minute Fabric trays

Step 1:

Decide which sized tray you are going to make. Cut your fabrics as per the from the table below.

Tray SizeFabric Size
Small 6 inch square
Medium7 inch square
Large8.5 inch square

Cut the following based on the table above:

1 x square Denim Outer Fabrics

1 x square Inner quilting cotton

2 x squares Interfacing Squares

Step 2: Iron on interfacing squares to the reverse side of both the denim outer & the quilt cotton fabric inner.

Step 3: With RST pin the outer and inner fabrics together

Step 4: Sew round the edge leaving a turning gap of approx 3-5 inches (depending on which sized tray you are making)

Step 5: Trim the fabric on each corner diagonally to reduce bulk, taking care not to snip through your stitches

Step 6: Turn to the right side making sure your corners are crisp (Use a sturdy pin to dig out the excess fabric in the corners helps here)

Pro Tip: The tool pictured above are Needle Grippers and they are SO helpful for turning out projects

Step 7: Press & pin the turning gap closed.


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Step 8: Top Stitch all the way around the edge using a 3mm stitch approximately 1/8″ from the fabric edge , closing the turning gap.

Step 9: On both sides of every corner make a mark with a temporary fabric marker the distance from the corner as listed in the table below

Tray SizeDistance from corner point
Small¾ inch
Medium1 inch
Large1 ¼ inch

Step 9: Match up the 2 marks on each corner so the lining fabric is touching. Over stitch catching both sides of the tray. Repeat for all 4 corners.

Congratulations! You’re done!

We hope you found this upcycled fabric tray tutorial useful!

Let us know how you get along in the comments below 🙂

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Fabric Tray Tutorial

11 thoughts on “15 Minute Upcycled Fabric Tray Tutorial”

  1. Thank you for sharing this tutorial. These trays are so cute with denim and pretty cotton prints. Can you tell me what type of comparable fusible interfacing I would find in the US? Thank you.

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