The following instructions for making a sewing table out of wooden boxes were originally published in 1905.
Sewing Table
How One May Be Fashioned Out of Ordinary Wooden Boxes
Take three light wooden boxes, such as can be procured at any grocery store, all being the same length and width. One foot wide by two feet long is a convenient size. Have two of them three inches and the other six inches deep.
Use four upright strips for the frame and fasten the boxes one above the other to these corner pieces, the lower box being about nine inches above the floor and the others at such distance apart that the top one is at a convenient height to reach when seated. The upright posts can be made as fancy as desired.
Have the deepest box at the top, and fit it with a hinged cover. It can be used to hold small pieces of unfinished work as well as the pieces of goods needed in the regular weekly mending. It should be lined with suitable material, pockets being made on each side to hold materials for fancy work, and a needle book and small pincushion should be fastened to the lining of the cover.
The second box should be divided into compartments to hold spools, scissors, papers of needles, pins tape, knitting needles, crochet hooks, etc., while the lower one has one-half divided into small compartments to hold different styles of buttons, the other half being left undivided to hold the tools and materials for stocking mending. When complete, the whole affair should be stained with black walnut stain and then varnished, and casters be added or not, as desired.
Source: The Colfax gazette. (Colfax, Wash.), 24 Feb. 1905.
