Plastic Canvas Tissue Box Instructions

Count the stitches of the perimeter of the pattern, then count this number on the canvas, starting at the first outside plastic line, counting one cross made by two intersecting plastic lines as one stitch. Cut the canvas according to the size of the pattern you just counted out.

Count the stitches or crosses on the pattern to determine where you should start stitching the figure -- not the background -- of the pattern onto the plastic canvas. Count on the canvas to the point where the figure begins. This is where you are going to start sewing the yarn onto the canvas.

Start stitching the pattern, beginning with the object of the pattern, then the background color according to your pattern. Thread your needle and yarn up through the starting hole, leaving 1/2 inch of yarn under the plastic canvas. Hold the 1/2-inch section down in the direction that you will be stitching with your other hand. For the first three stitches you make, make sure that the 1/2-inch section of the yarn is caught or held down by the underside stitches. Bring your needle up through the bottom left hole of the starting cross or intersection. Push the needle down through the upper right hole of the cross intersection. Keep stitching like this, working from left to right until you reach the end of the row you are stitching. Move your needle down to the next row and make your stitches in the same manner, starting the row at the right and stitching it over to the left. Every seventh thread stitch will start a new row.

Keep stitching in this manner, alternating from left to right and right to left along the rows until you are done with the color you are working on. When you are finished with a piece of yarn, flip over the canvas to the wrong side and push your needle through the underside of four stitches. Cut the remaining piece of yarn off.

Follow the pattern until you have stitched the object and the background on all sides of the tissue box. Stitch the box together by holding the front and right side edges together. To whip-stitch the sides together, make a stitch starting in the front side edge hole and ending in the right side edge hole. Continue stitching along the straight edges and inside corners of the box in the manner. Make three stitches in the outside upper and bottom corners to secure the pieces together. Continue to do so until the box has been stitched together.