It's a Wrap Baskets

It's a Wrap Baskets

Cover cord with fabric strips and start coiling. You’ll wind up with a trio of baskets that are perfect for gifts or cute storage!

Materials for One Basket:

• 3/4 yard green, pink, or aqua fabric (basket)
• 4 yards—12/32"-diameter cotton piping cord
• Quilting thread or sturdy cotton thread to match fabric
• Heavy-duty needle (such as chenille)
• Clothespins (optional)

Finished baskets: small: 5" diameter, 2-1/2" high; medium: 5-1/2" diameter, 2-1/2" high; large: 6-1/2" diameter, 3" high 

Cut Fabrics:

Cut or tear green, pink, or aqua fabrics into 16–1-1/2"-wide strips (tearing the strips adds more texture to their edges). 

Prepare Strings:

1. Using diagonal seams (shown with black line), join short ends of two 1-1/2"-wide strips. Trim excess fabric, leaving 1/4" seam allowance. Press seam open. Repeat to sew together four strips total to make a pieced strip.

2. Repeat Step 1 to make four pieced strips total.

3. Fold and press each pieced strip in half lengthwise with wrong side inside to make four 3/4"-wide strings. To prevent tangling, wind each string into a small loop (about the size of your hand) and secure with a clothespin. 

Wrap Cord:

1. Sew end of cord to string about 1-1/2" from string end; trim cord end 1/4" beyond stitching.

2. Wrap string at an angle around trimmed end of cord to cover it.

3. Snuggly wrap string at an angle around length of cord, overlapping wraps by about half the width of the string, or about 3/8". Each string will cover 3–4 feet of cord.

TIP: Use a clothespin as a clamp to hold wraps in place whenever you need to stop. Add a new string onto working string when needed by joining string ends with diagonal seams as done before. 

4. At end of desired length of cord, secure wrapped string in place by stitching the cord to the string as you did in the beginning (this prevents unraveling).

Make Basket Base:

1. Coil beginning of cord tightly around itself until you have a spiral that measures 1-1/2–2" in diameter. (Use clothespins as needed to hold rounds in place.) With a needle and quilting thread, begin at center of spiral and hand-sew each round to the next to secure. Be certain that the rounds are stitched side by side and that the spiral remains flat as you join the rounds.

2. Join desired number of rounds in coil to make base (small basket, five rounds; medium basket, six rounds; large basket, seven rounds).

Finish Basket:

1. Start shaping basket sides by stacking next round atop last base round; stitch it in place. As you travel the perimeter of last round, the first stacked round should rest on the top side of last round.

2. Continue coiling and stitching, placing each round on top of the one before it to form straight basket sides, until you reach your desired height (small pink basket, five coils high; medium aqua basket, five coils high; large green basket, seven coils high).

3. Stop joining rounds and stitching a few inches from where the spiral will end, which, to prevent a lopsided basket, should be directly above the starting point. Stick a pin into the cord where the spiral should end.

4. Sew through coil at marked position in the same manner as you began. Pull fabric away from cord. Cut cord at a diagonal 1/4" from stitching. Cut string about 1" from stitching. Cover cord end with excess fabric and secure fabric with a few hand stitches. Resume joining final round; tuck end of coil to inside of basket and secure to complete basket. Trim frayed threads, if desired.