nanaCompany Little Fabric Basket

This sweet and petite basket is a pattern/tutorial Amy wrote back in April of 2011. We are happy to offer it here for you now, as snow lays on the ground… in anticipation of spring. This little fabric basket would be useful year-round, but it's darling at Easter and happiest when filled with candy. It’s quite small at nearly four and a half inches… and actually the perfect size for holding hand-sewing essentials on-the-go. Amy made this basket three times and they are all different, but cute in their own way. Let’s begin.

You’ll need:

• One fat quarter of fabric for the basket and handle
• Less than a fat quarter of medium interfacing
• One 5” circle of fusible lightweight interfacing
• Ric-rac, lace, trim, ribbon, and a label for embellishing… if desired

Cutting Instructions:

• FOR BASKET SIDES AND OUTER BOTTOM:
  • Two pieces of fabric for basket sides: 15 1/2” x 3 1/2”
  • One piece of medium weight interfacing: 15 1/2” x 3 1/2”
  • One piece of ric-tan, lace, or trim: 15 1/2” length
  • One piece of fabric: 5” circle
  • One piece of fusible light interfacing: 5”
• FOR HANDLE:
  • Two strips of fabric for handle: 9 1/2” x 1”
  • One piece of medium weight interfacing: 9 1/2” x 1”
• FOR INSERTED BASKET BOTTOM:
  • Two pieces of fabric for basket bottom: 5 1/4” circle
  • One piece of medium weight interfacing: 5 1/4” circle
• OPTIONAL EMBELLISHMENT:
  • Fabric or ribbon bow, and/or label for basket front

*Sew using a scant 1/4” seam unless otherwise noted.*

In the original instructions, Amy stated that you should lay out your outer fabric (right side up), with lace trim on top, and medium weight interfacing below that. Layer these directly on top of one another (not staggered as shown below, which was just for the visual), and stitch a scant 1/4” along the long edge, attaching the lace to your outer fabric. 

***So, here’s where she already wants to make a correction. I think it was because of the linen, she sewed the interfacing to the outer fabric piece. BUT, with regular quilting cotton, please sew the interfacing to the wrong side of your inner lining fabric. (You’ll want the stability that the interfacing provides, but you’ll have a much nicer look if it adheres to the lining, and not to the outer fabric. And since Amy wrote this in 2011, she has fallen in love with one product: you could use Pellon Shape-flex whenever light weight or medium weight interfacing is mentioned.)

***So the interfacing should be right on top of that inner lining fabric up there. BUT, don’t sew them together just yet. First you need to make and attach the handle.

Lay out your 9 1/2” x 1” fabric prints, right sides facing. Put the interfacing on top. Line up the pieces, edge to edge, and stitch along the two long sides with a 1/8” seam, as shown below:

See my lovely hooked tool below? Do you have one of these (or some other tool to pull fabric tubes right sides out)? Using lawn, it’s fairly easy to pull the tube right side out.

Using Art Gallery Fabrics, it was not too difficult either. But if you’re using a thicker fabric there is a better way. ***(In that case, you might take a 9 1/2” x 2” piece of fabric… iron in half lengthwise (wrong sides facing), tuck a 9 1/2” x 3/8” strip of interfacing inside, then fold in both of the unfinished edges and press with an iron.) Top-stitch along both long sides of the handle, a scant 1/8” in from the edge… and now you have a basket handle.

Now pin your handle as show below… centered on the 4” mark from one side.

Then pin the other end of your handle, centered on the 4” mark in from the other side, as shown below:

Baste stitch each the two handle ends about 1/8” in, keeping the pins about 1/2” from the raw edges, and making sure the handle lies perfectly perpendicular.

Now, take your inner lining fabric (backed with interfacing), and pin at the top edge over the lace and handle. Stitch the layers together using a 1/4” seam. Press the seam, and opening it at the seam, press again… like this: 

Once you’ve pressed the seam open, fold the entire piece in half. Align those two short ends together and stitch them so you have a tube.

Pull the outer piece down over the lining (notice my interfacing… on the back of my outer piece, when it should be on the lining instead. Also again, use Shape Flex for best results… no stiff and wrinkly look). Give it a good press, and it will look like this:

But now, flip your outer basket walls, outside in, so that the lace is facing inside. Press the light weight interfacing 5” circle to the wrong side of the 5” fabric circle. This is your basket bottom.

It is helpful to mark your 5” circle before pinning like so:

Pin the interfaced side of your basket bottom to the walls. We don’t recommend doing it as Amy did here. Better to have the sharp ends of the pins, facing inwards, not outwards, as she did. Stitch all along the circle, a 1/4” seam.

Once you’ve finished stitching the circle, you could go around again with a zigzag stitch to secure.

Now pull your basket right side out and gently push out the edges of the bottom.

Amy struggled with getting a good circle on this one because she didn’t maintain a 1/4” seam consistently. She ripped out the stitches and sewed the seam again (and again) lol. Now to make the inner bottom of the basket. There are two ways Amy has sewn this:

The first time, she sandwiched the medium weight 5 1/4” circle interfacing between the two 5 1/4” fabric circles (right sides facing). Pin this sandwich together and leave a 2” space for turning. But before turning, clip straight into the edges around the circle… make lots and lots of snips to get the best round shape (and do not snip into your stitches but get really close to them). Now turn the piece right side out, and gently push out all around the circle. Press well and top-stitch at a scant 1/8” in from the outer edge. Now, you could place this into the basket bottom and call it a day. You could use fabric glue to secure it in place (the fabric glue that makes a flexible seal, it’s called Aleene’s). ORrrrrr…

Amy hand-stitched this bottom into the basket. ORrrr, for this most recent basket:

She used a glue stick to secure the fabric to an ultra firm stabilizer on just the upper side… clipping the fabric all around the circle, and gluing it to the back side of the stabilizer. Then she hand-stitched this bottom into place. (*** If you were to choose to do it this way, make note that you must cut your interfacing circle smaller… to about a 4 3/4” circle.) You could still glue it into place, or hand-stitch it, but then you’re done. Almost!

Add a little bow and/or a label for cuteness sake. 

And ta-daa… you’re finished. Oh, and for the most recent basket, Amy topstitched the lace on the upper basket edge because it needed a bit of help. Think the linen could have a used a bit of top-stitching too.

The end. Okay. So, if you’d like to download the PDF pattern with templates for the circles click here… and enjoy sewing this little fabric basket!

xx

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