Basket Tutorial

 

 

 

My sons are in high school and seem a little old for the traditional pastel Easter baskets, so I went ahead and made them each a new one.  My youngest loves Penn State so that was an easy choice for him.  My oldest seemed to be drawn to the flame/guitar material, so that is what I used for him.

The dark blue Penn State material is 9.5 in by 16 in.  The white is 3 in x 16 in.  Sew the white and blue pieces together with 1/4 in seam allowance and then iron fusible fleece to the back of each piece.

Pin the 2 exterior pieces, right sides together and sew around the left, bottom and right sides with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

 

 

Next I cut 2  12 in by 16 in pieces for the inside from the blue pawprint material and ironed fusible fleece to the back.  Pin the 2 interior pieces, right sides together and sew around the left, bottom and right sides with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.  Leave a few inches unsewn at the bottom in order to turn the project right side near the end of the project.

 

Box the bottom corners of the interior piece and exterior piece to help the final project stand upright.  My purple line (shown above) is 5 inches.  I sewed across this line 3 times for strength. Cut off the excess point about 1/4 to 1/2 inch from the seam line to eliminate bulk.

 

 

 

Cut 2 pieces of 3.5 in by 9.5 in fabric for the handles and iron fusible fleece to the back of one piece.  Put right sides together and sew a 1/4 seam down one of the 9.5 in sides.  This is where I forgot to take pictures.  Iron the piece open.  Fold the 2 raw edges to the inside all the way to the other side and press like crazy.  This will give you a handle about 1.5 in wide.  Sew down the side and it should end up looking like the picture below.  Repeat this process as you need 2 handles.

 

 

You will now have 2 handles and you are ready to put the basket together!

 

 

 

Next put the 2 pieces inside of each other, right sides together.  Tuck the handles down inside, making sure they are not twisted and pin like crazy!  Hint - put your pins pointing down, not pointing up like mine if you want to avoid stabbing yourself repeatedly while sewing! 

 

Sew around the perimeter with a 1/4 in seam allowance, pulling the pins out as you go.

 

Pull the project right side out through the opening you left in the bottom of the lining.

 

Press the raw edges from the whole you left for turning under and iron well.

Sew the whole closed.  I did a line of straight stitching and a zig zag stitch because I am a little OCD.

 

Tuck the inside into the bag and press well.

I finished up with a row of top stitching a 1/4 in from the edge.  Now you should have an awesome basket!