As I mentioned in Monday’s post, I like the idea of giving gifts in a reusable bag that I’ve made. I mentioned this to my sister, Jess and she told me that she’s done the same, but has used baskets. Jess shared a basket tutorial from sew4home that I decided to use for both my mom’s Mother’s day gift and a bridal shower gift.

I used the following supplies (2 different baskets):

Pink Basket:

• 1/2 yard of fabric from the Mass Drop Gelato Ombre Half Yard Fabric Bundle ($5.74)
• 1/2 yard of fabric from the Mass Drop Color Basic Oxford by Lecien Half Yard Bundle ($3.75)
• silver rick rack* ($3.89)
• 1/2 yard Fairfield Stiffen One Sided Fusible Interfacing* ($2.98)
• 1/2 yard cotton batting* ($1.50)

Total Materials Cost: $17.86

Bridal Basket:

• 1/2 yard of white outer fabric ($6.00)
• 1/2 yard of silver lining fabric ($3.00)
• White Ribbon ($2.00)
• 1/2 yard medium weight fusible interfacing* ($3.02)
• 1/2 yard cotton batting* ($1.50)

Total Materials Cost: $15.52

The baskets took about 4 hours to make. Each basket has 4 layers of fabric, interfacing, and batting so assembly took a bit of time. I found the stiff interfacing to be quite difficult to work with. Especially at the seams, it was tough to sew through. I ended up hand turning my machine so that I could go slow. When I didn’t go slowly through this part, the thread broke on me.

Pinning with the stiff interfacing was also a challenge. I ended up weaponizing the basket to hold the pieces in place.

I also didn’t really like the look that the stiff interfacing gave to the basket. It made the slantedness of the basket very obvious, in addition to being more rigid than I thought was required for a gift basket. So I decided to try medium interfacing for the bridal basket. That worked well – the basket sides didn’t cave in and it was much easier to pin and sew.

The lining fabric for the bridal basket was a bit difficult to work with. When I first tried to sew the batting, I found that the needle wasn’t passing through the fabric at all. I switched to a stretch needle and everything was better from there on out.

It was important to use a walking foot in both baskets. This helped to keep all of the layers of fabric together, especially at the thick seams.

I was happy with the look of each basket when they were filled with the rest of the gifts. I was especially happy with the look and feel of the bridal basket.

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