Yes, it is bigger on the inside.

You would not believe how much Fn stuff you can put inside one of these things Although, it's fun to hang out at the customer loading area to see how people will try to jam a couch into the backseat of a convertible and drive it home.

Made of a nearly indestructible woven polypropylene fabric, this reusable tote is totally awesomesauce amazeballs. And in a pinch, can transport you through time and space.

And once you schlep your stuff to your homeworld, fend off a few Daleks, you can put your things away in the TARDIS bookcase cupboard.

It has handy side pouches for storage of small items like keys and lights up as if it were ready to dematerialise.

DISCLAIMER: The TARDDYS BJAG is a modification of an actual IKEA product. You will not find it in their stores or in the catalog. Don't ask. Well, maybe at the Torchwood Soho branch store.

Sorry, the camera I shot the vid on output in a .mov file which needed conversion for Windows Movie Maker to make the TARDIS takeoff so no dematerialising. No sound edits either. Next time.

Fascinating trivia: Did you know the sound of the TARDIS is made by rubbing a key across a piano string?

Step 1: Sonic Screwdriver Batteries Not Included...

Things to gather on your journey:

For little more than a buck, get two IKEA FRAKTA shopping bags.

and for a few more bucks, a plate of their delicious meatballs...wait

I used the large version as I have also seen them sell a smaller book/grocery tote in the same style which you can do the same modification.

A bit of white felt or similar transluscent fabric for the windows.

A bit of fiberfill to diffuse the LEDs.

Something to replicate the top dome light. I had the plastic packaging from an electronic component that was cup-shaped and looked like the TARDIS light.

You will need to have some basic sewing skills.

I suppose you could hand sew but a basic sewing machine makes short work of things.

WARNING: Learn how to sew. Scissors and needles are sharp. Sewing machines can be dangerous. Learn proper use of your sewing machine so you know if you are going beyond the bounds of the warranty.

Electrical dohickeys:

- (6) blue LEDs, more needed if you plan on more lights
- (6) 100 ohm resistors
- a microprocessor controller board or similar chameleon circuit consisting of 555 timer ics, some capacitors, resistors, switches, diodes, batteries and maybe a few transistors.
- wire
- external battery pack

CAUTION: Know how to solder correctly and safely, work with power and electronics, know how to program and debug code, all not necessarily in that order...

You will need to print out a few graphics.

Some clear contact shelf liner or clear vinyl plastic laminating paper.

Step 2: Dematerialising Shopping Bags...

One shopping bag will be the basis for our project.

We need to get matching fabric and straps for the tote so we will deconstruct the other bag. The remnants will make a mighty fine TARDIS IKEA purse, storage pouch or something.

It helps to have a seam ripper tool for cutting a bag apart. You could use a sharp utility knife too. Be careful that you don't accidentally slice the fabric.

Harvest the pelts from the bag. We will reuse the smaller set of straps for additional handles on the finished bag.

Step 3: Surfs Up! Panel Your Wagon...

We need to have eight small panels that will be the door panels.

We need one more small panel the same size to be the mounting panel for the top light.

Cut nine squares that are 3 1/2 inches by 3 inches and adding a 1/4 inch seam allowance all around.

We need a rectangular panel for the POLICE BOX signage.

Cut a piece 9 inches long by 3 1/2 inches high and adding a 1/4 inch seam allowance all around

Hem all the edges of the cut panels by folding the seam allowance in on the edge and sewing down.

Step 4: Puffy Window Treatments...

Take two of your door panels.

Cut a piece of felt to fit inside the border of the panel.

With a permanent black marker, draw the window frames.

Allow the ink to dry on the nonporous felt fibers, otherwise you end up with mysterious smudges on your hands.

I guess I could have been real fancy and embroidered the windowframe outline with a close zigzag stich on the machine.

Sew all around leaving a small opening to stuff the fiberfill.

Stuff and shape. You can close off the opening or leave it so you can adjust the positioning of the LEDs later.

Step 5: Sir, a Top Hat...

Here's a way to recycle some of that plastic packaging.

I had the perfect part to reuse.

I trimmed the cup shape out with a flat border around it.

I cut a piece of scrap blue fabric to put inside the top as a light shade.

Pack the cup shape with a bit of fiberfill.

Now this is the part where you gotta have faith in your tools...

Take one of the door panel fabric pieces.

Slowly sew the plastic part centered on the fabric piece.

Step 6: Signage...

Fancy them pictures...

Print out the POLICE BOX sign.

Print out the telephone door sign.

I do not have any original artwork for the St John's Ambulance badge so I have not attached any.

Do some work and a quick search will yield plenty to use. Print out the St John's Ambulance badge.

Scale to about 2 3/4 inches round to fit in a door panel. Note that the one I used is modified to indicate my use of the Adafruit Flora.

Depending on what TARDIS version you want to make, there are variations of the use of the St. John's Ambulance badge, telephone door panel sign, window treatments,...all debatable depending on how much of a Whovian you are.

Laminate on both sides with your adhesive backed vinyl covering.

Burnish and trim closely.

This creates a sewable and durable patch for the TARDIS bag.

Sew the signs on the fabric patches.

Note that I had some room on the telephone door panel to sew on a little strip of fabric to make it look like a small door handle.

If you are a penchant for details, I guess the Yale lock and door handle on the other side would have been necessary.

Step 7: Apply Appliques...

Time to sew on the patch pockets.

Lay out all of the pieces and pin in place.

Note that the pieces will only be sewn on three sides, in a U-pattern on the edges to create a pocket.
The bottom of the U is toward the bottom of the bag since we use the bag horizontally.

You now have nine little pockets on the face of the bag.

You could rivet the corners of the pockets for extra strength. I could have bartacked each of the corners but my machine has a locking start/end stitch feature that I used which reinforces the corners with a few extra stitches.

Sew on the top light assembly.

When using the bag and trying to drag a big load like laundry with the bag stuffed, it is handy to have a handle on the ends.

Reuse the short straps harvested from the deconstructed bag.

Position on the end and run a bar tack or sew a few times for reinforcement to secure the end handle.

I sewed the ends at a slight angle to help relieve some stress as that is the natural position the handle pulls on the bag.

Step 8: WATSCHEN DER BLINKENLICHTEN...

I wanted to add some pulsing lights to the TARDIS tote.

I have an Adafruit Flora which is an arduino variant designed for wearables.

It has a limited number of pins so I just lit up the two windows and top light. Next time I would expand it to light up the POLICE BOX sign.

There are different ways to add more LEDs to the project but I went for the quick and simple.

I used an online LED calculator to come up with the resistor values (100 ohms each for 2 LEDs in parallel). I used 130 ohms resistors on hand.

You always have to think about what your microprocessor board can handle so you don't fry it.

I just did a few simple changes to the sample Fade sketch and uploaded it to the Flora.

I am driving 3 pairs of LEDs, each pair on an analog pin out and common ground.

Once you have the circuit prototyped and tested out, you can create the actual wiring harness that will be mounted in the bag.

You could go the true soft circuit method and use conductive thread traces but I know a bag like this will get roughed up quite a bit.

I used some thin dual conductor speaker wire for the cable run.

Cut the wire lengths appropriate to where the Flora is mounted in the pocket running to the LED location.

Note that I also cut some female headers to solder into the Flora. I wanted a connector system attached to my circuit board so it would be removable to reuse on other projects. The ends of the cables to the LEDs have a male header pin soldered so it could plug into the female header. I guess you could use the sewing snaps connector method but this lets me also interface with other sensors and wires terminated with male header pins.

/* ==========================================
TARDIS Flora Fade
based on:
The example shows how to fade an LED on pin 9
using the analogWrite() function.

The example code is in the public domain.
*/

int led6 = 6;
int led9 = 9;
int led10 = 10;

// the pin that the LED is attached to
int brightness = 0;    // how bright the LED is
int fadeAmount = 5;    // how many points to fade the LED by

// the setup routine runs once when you press reset:
void setup() {
// declare pin 9 to be an output:
pinMode(led6, OUTPUT);
pinMode(led9, OUTPUT);
pinMode(led10, OUTPUT);

}

// the loop routine runs over and over again forever:
void loop() {
// set the brightness of pin 9:
analogWrite(led6, brightness);
analogWrite(led9, brightness);
analogWrite(led10, brightness);

// change the brightness for next time through the loop:
brightness = brightness + fadeAmount;
if (brightness == 255) delay(50);
// reverse the direction of the fading at the ends of the fade:
if (brightness == 0 || brightness == 255) {
    fadeAmount = -fadeAmount ;
}
// wait for 30 milliseconds to see the dimming effect
delay(30);
}

Step 9: All Together Now...

Take your wiring harness and route it through the bag.

You can take your seam ripper tool or an awl to punch holes through the fabric to fit the LEDs.

Position the LEDs in place.

Secure the wires on the backside with duct tape.

I could have sewn the Flora on the St John's Ambulance patch but it fits in the pocket with its battery pack.

Atomic batteries to power. Light it up.