Crafting with GFAN!

During the Replenishment conference we received many complements on the fabric baskets that we had in our booth. We were so pleased that everyone liked the results of our team-building activity!

These baskets are very simple to make and good project for a novice sewist. If you want to learn how to make your own basket – the directions are below!

Materials you will need:

4 pieces of Fabric cut in 13″ x 15″ rectangles (to make a smaller or bigger basket adjust the size, just make sure all 4 pieces are cut to the same size)
4 pieces of iron on interfacing (heavy – ours was too light) cut in the dimension of your fabric
thread, scissors, pins, sewing machine, and iron

Directions:

Step 1:

Iron the interfacing on to each piece of fabric. Be sure to iron the interfacing to the side of the fabric you DON’T want to see.

Step 2:

Cut 3″ squares out of the bottom corners of all 4 pieces of interfaced fabric. Make sure you are cutting those squares only at the bottom – as this will be where the base of your basket will be. What you want to end up with is a piece of fabric that looks like this:

Step 3:

Sew your two inner pieces together (the two pieces that will become the inside of your basket). Place the two pieces NICE SIDES TOGETHER and pin together at the sides and bottom, like this:

Sew each side until you reach where you cut out the square on both sides. Sew the bottom leaving where you cut the squares open. Now you should have an open top and two holes at the bottom where you cut out the squares. Iron the seams you just sewed open (press them as flat as you can).

Step 4:

You now need to pinch the squares to create your base. Line up your two seams and pin the pinched fabric. Sew along the pinched fabric on both sides.

You should now have your internal bag sewn together.

Step 5:

Repeat steps 3 and 4 with your two pieces of fabric that will be the external bag.

Step 6:

You are now ready to put the two sides of the bags together! You need to make sure nice sides are together, which means that you will have to put one of your bags inside right and the other should remain inside out. Tuck the bag you turned inside right into the bag that is inside out. You should now only see rough edges and interfacing where you stitched both bags. The nice sides should be hidden.

Pin the tops of the two bags together and mark a gap of about 3 inches that you will leave open. You will then sew the top of the bag about 1/2 ” down (a 1/2 inch seam allowance), stopping at your 3 inch gap.

Step 7:

Open up the gap you left and pull everything through the hole. It may be tricky with the interfacing, but it will all come through, be patient!

Push the inside of the bag into place and give it a quick iron to get out the wrinkles and be sure to around the top of the bag to flatten that seam.

Then sew around the entire top of the bag about a 1/4″ down to hold the seam in place and to close the gap you left.

You can then fold over the top of the bag to reveal your internal fabric!