Sewn baskets

I've needed some baskets for my home for a long time. However, for one reason or another, I never made any. If you are like me, read on.

Last week a found a bunch of different techniques on how to make a basket. Did you know you can machine sew, knit, crochet or even sew them with a needle? I intend to try all of those methods one by one.

I am famous for that if there is a way to machine sew something I don’t bother with hand sewing.  So it’s no surprise that the first technique I tried was with machine sewing. I found the idea here. Alisa’s blog is wonderful! I remembered seeing this before too but Alisa’s baskets made me fall in love immediately.

The idea is very simple. All you need is a cotton rope/coil and a willing to experiment. Before you start put your machine settings on a larger zigzag stitch. Then, make a small circle with the end of the rope and fix it from the side with pins. Bring the circle under the presser foot of your machine, put the foot and then the needle down. Hold the threads with your right hand and slowly start zigzagging in a circle. The needle should go into the current and the previous row. Go slowly and accommodate your coil as needed to form a circle. When you have a bottom size that you a happy with, hold the circle with your left hand and try to put it on angle toward the needle. It requires a bit of practice but you can’t go wrong here, just go on. You change the angle depending on the form of the basket you want to get. Sew in this manner until you get the desired height. If you want to add a handle, mark with pins the place of the handles ad continue. I sewed as described to the first pin, then continued on the single rope for the handle length and then joined again the rope to the body at the second pin. Repeat for the second handle if you wish. Finally, I added two more rows before finishing. Make sure you secure the end tightly zigzagging onto it. 

Really, the opportunities are endless. You can make big or small baskets, with or without handles, symmetrical or not. The best thing is they are all unique and you can hardly repeat them exactly even if you wish.

The first one.

The second one.

And some rope was left for this one.

They can go in set of twos…

…or threes…

 You can make those from almost anything. I used a cotton rope and a simple machine needle. I alternated with the colour of both the upper and bottom thread to get some colour but you can use whatever you like.

They have lots of applications – for decoration, for storing fruits and vegetables, small items, like keys and jewelry, even as a hat, as my man suggested. They are easily washed in a washing machine and are practically non-destroyable.

Enjoy!