How to Sew a Basket: Easy Home Project
As all of us have been spending much time at home recently, so we thought it would be nice to come up with a project that can help keep our homes a little more organized. In today’s blog, we will tell you, Petite Designers, how to sew a cute little basket. It is a versatile sewing project as you can use it for storage or as a plant holder, for example, which always looks adorable. As always, you can mix and match your favorite colors and make this basket very special. Let’s start!
What You Will Need:
Sewing Machine
Heavy-duty fabric – ½ yard
Cotton fabric – ½ yard
Interfacing – ½ yard
Thread, ruler, scissors
Step 1: Create a Sewing Pattern
Making a pattern for this sewing project is pretty simple. You can either build your pattern on a piece of paper and then reuse it, or you can draw the pattern right on your fabric. We built our sewing pattern right on the shell, our outer, fabric:
First, we need to build a 12’’ x 12’’ square. When you draw a square, it is very important to make sure that you have 90-degree angles, otherwise, the square will lose its shape. Use a 90-degree angle ruler to measure your angles. If you don’t have a ruler, take a book or magazine as they have 90-degree angles.
Now that your square is ready, you need to draw two little boxes at the bottom of your square, right in the corners. The boxes should be 3’’ x 3’’.
You will also need to draw a rectangle for the handles. The rectangle will be 7’’ x 3.5’’. Here it is also very important to use your ruler that measures 90-degree angles.
Step 2: Cut Your Fabric
To cut faster, we will cut on a double layer of the shell fabric. This way, we will only cut once but get two pieces ready. When you cut on two layers, don’t forget to pin them together, otherwise, one of the layers can move.
Cut following the lines of your pattern. Do you remember those little boxes we drew at the bottom of our square? We need to cut out those boxes to get the right shape of our sewing pattern. This picture shows exactly how the fabric should look like when it is cut out.
Now you need to cut out 4 more pieces: 2 from your lining (cotton fabric) and 2 from your interfacing. TIP: Use the shell piece you just cut out as a pattern for the lining and interfacing. Pin your shell fabric to the lining and cut it out following the shape of your fabric. Repeat the same step for the interfacing.
Cut out your handles from your shell material. Since you will need 2 handles, cut them our on fold as well.
Step 3: Glue Your Interfacing to the Shell
Even though we are using a pretty stiff outdoor material for the shell of this project, we want it to have a perfect shape. Interfacing can help us with this. So, how do you attach your interfacing to the shell?
To glue the interfacing to the shell, you need to use a hot iron. Put the rough side of the interfacing with the wrong side of your shell (the side that won’t show when the project is done).
Cover both pieces with a cloth and press them together with a hot iron. Interfacing must glue to the shell so they become a single piece.
Step 4: Stitching the Pieces Together
Now that our fabric is ready, we can start stitching. Thread your machine and set it for a basic stitch (stitch #1 if you use a Brother Project Runway sewing machine). Make your stitch longer since we work with a heavy-duty fabric (make it 3.0 on your Brother machine). Start stitching the shell pieces:
Put them together with the right sides facing each other
Draw a line ½’’ from the edge on the sides and at the bottom of the fabric.
Sew the two pieces together where the lines go. Security stitch at the beginning and the end.
Cut off all thread leftovers to keep your project nice and clean. Repeat the same steps for your lining.
Step 5: Stitching the Corners
To give our beautiful basket that shape we are looking for, we now need to stitch the corners together.
Take two corners on the left of your shell fabric, align them and stitch together. Then stitch the two corners on the right in the same way.
Repeat these steps for your lining.
Don’t forget to security stitch.
Step 6: Open the Seams
Your shell and lining are ready. Now you need to open the seams of both pieces and iron them so they stay open as you continue to work with your project. When you press your bottom seams, be gentle as it can create a crease at the bottom that we don’t want.
Step 7: Sew the Handles
