Piped Basket -- Sewing Tutorial

This is a padded fabric basket just begging to be made for a teacher, neighbor, or even your East German friend who has a birthday tomorrow (or am I the only one in that situation?).  I know there are a million fabric basket sewing tutorials out there, but do many of them have all this adorable piping?  I think not!

The finished dimensions are about 6 1/2" wide, 5 1/2" deep, and 4" tall (minus the handles, which stick up another couple of inches).

Piped Basket -- Sewing Tutorial

Materials Needed:

Exterior fabric -- fat quarter or 1/2 yard (quilting cotton or lightweight home decor)
Interior fabric -- fat quarter of 1/2 yard (quilting cotton or lightweight home decor)
Fusible fleece -- one piece at least 15" x 14" and two scraps 1" x 7"
Piping -- at least 55" (about 2/3 of a standard package, or you can make your own!)
Thread to match each fabric PLUS thread to match the piping
Freezer paper (or regular paper would be okay too)

STEP ONE: Drawing the pattern and cutting out the pieces

Grab some freezer paper, and on the matte side draw a rectangle 6" tall and 7" wide.  (You don't necessarily need to use freezer paper, but I love using it because then you can iron your pattern piece onto the fabric and it will temporarily adhere to make cutting the shape out easier.  Just peel it off afterward and then you can iron it onto another piece of fabric!)

Then draw "tabs" onto each side that are 4" long.  Another way to think of it would be to draw a huge rectangle that is 14" x 15" and then cut 4" squares out of each corner.

The result should look something like this:

Iron that puppy onto your exterior fabric and then cut around it.  Ignore the cat glaring disapprovingly at your fabric choice (maybe Rocky would have liked plaid better?) and repeat that step with the lining fabric.

Do NOT iron the pattern piece onto your fusible fleece for obvious reasons, but cut a piece of it out in the shape of the pattern piece as well.

I didn't take a photo of them, but you also need to cut four pieces from lining fabric that are 2" x 7" each.  [Note - I couldn't make up my mind whether I wanted the handles to be made from all exterior fabric, all lining fabric, or a combination of the two.  For the red basket (which I photographed in process for the tutorial), I used only lining fabric.  For the green basket, I made one side of each handle from the exterior fabric, and the opposite side of each handle from the lining fabric.  It doesn't matter which way you do it!]  Cut two pieces of fusible fleece that are 1" x 7", and cut four lengths of piping that are 7" long each. Set the rest of the piping aside to be used later.

Cut list summary:

Exterior fabric:
- One from the pattern piece

Lining fabric:
- One from the pattern piece
- Four 2" x 7" pieces

Fusible fleece:
- One from the pattern piece
- Two 1" x 7" pieces

Piping:
- Four 7" lengths
- One long length approximately 27" long

STEP TWO: Sewing the handles

Take one of the 2" x 7" pieces and pin a couple of the 7" lengths of piping on the RIGHT SIDE of both of the long edges, with the raw edges of the piping aligned with the long edges of the fabric.

Do NOT do what I did and use thread that doesn't match your piping.  I will explain why later.  Instead, thread your machine with the thread that DOES match your piping, pop on your zipper foot (or piping foot if you're so lucky as to have one!) and stitch right on top of the existing stitching on the piping.  Ignore the wobbly parts that I did on the bottom.  It's hard to sew with a four-year-old on your lap.

Take another 2" x 7" piece and pin it on top of the first one with right sides together and the piping sandwiched in between.

Flip the sandwich over, then sew down both sides right on top of the stitching you did in the last step.

Then you have this!

This next step STINKS, but it's the only way to get these awesomely piped handles with the piping stitched the proper way.  Unfortunately, you have to turn the tube right side out.  This is extra difficult in this case because the piping makes the tube even stiffer.  Just be patient and go slowly.  Once the tube is turned right side out, press it to make it look a bit nicer.

See why you shouldn't use green thread to sew on white piping?  I didn't stitch quite close enough to my original stitch line on one side and you can see the green thread if you look closely.  Yes, no one may ever notice but it BUGS ME!  So learn from my mistake and use thread to match the piping.

Nest, grab one of your 1" x 7" strips of fusible fleece and stuff it in the tube, taking care to keep it flat and untwisted.  I like to use my wooden shish kebab skewers to do this.  It's amazing how many kitchen and garage tools come in handy when I'm sewing!  The fleece will probably stretch while you're doing this, so just cut off any that is sticking out on either end.  Then use your iron to press the strip and adhere the gluey side of the fleece.

Change your thread to one that matches the handle fabric and stitch down both edges and down the middle while you're at it.

Repeat that whole process (including that horrid tub turning mess) so you now have two handles.

STEP THREE: Sewing the main body pieces

Fuse the fleece to the wrong side of the EXTERIOR piece (trust me -- it looks better this way rather than fused to the interior based on my experience) according to the directions.  Then pin each of the corners together with the right sides facing.  It should look something like this:

Repeat with the lining while you're at it.

Grab the exterior piece and sew the pinned edges together using a 1/4" seam allowance.  I like to switch to thread that matches the exterior fabric because this is a seam that will have stress on it and may expose the stitching (especially if you use a longer stitch).  

When all four seams have been sewn, it should look like this:

Repeat with the lining piece and now you have two little baskets just waiting to be merged together.  Switching your thread to a color matching the lining is probably not necessary because those seams will not be stretched and the stitching won't tend to be exposed.

Now grab your remaining long piece of piping and start pinning it to the exterior piece.  NOTE:  When I took these photos, I must have been drunk because I pinned them to the wrong side of the fabric.  So ignore that part.  

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO is turn the exterior piece so that the right side of the fabric is facing out and THEN pin the piping (matching raw edges) along the top.  Start in the middle of one of the short sides, and leave a 1" trail at the beginning unpinned.  Just pretend that the piping is being pinned to pretty red polka dot fabric instead of the fusible fleece.

Yup, this photo still has the piping pinned to the wrong side of the fabric.  Do as I say, not as I photographed!  Make sure you pin open the seams to reduce the bulk at the corners.  It's not fatal, but it makes for an easier sew down the line.

(Yup, still wrong side out in the photo.  Sorry about that.)  When you get back around to the beginning, overlap the piping by about 3/4" and chop off the excess if there is any.

Take your handy-dandy seam ripper and rip out about 3/4" worth of the stitching that holds the piping together.  Peel it back to expose the cord inside.  Feels kind of naughty, doesn't it?

Cut off the exposed cord at the point where the other intact side of the piping meets it when you nest it inside the open side.  It should look like this after you cut off the excess cord.

Take the flap of piping fabric from the opened end and fold about 1/4" or 1/3" of it back to the inside of the piping.  Just finger press it at that point - no need to get crazy and involve your iron.

Close the folded end around the intact end to make the continuous piping join all nice and neat.  Pin it into place.

Sew the piping into place (remembering that my photo is WRONG and that your piping should be on the RIGHT side of the fabric!) by stitching right on the piping's stitching line.  Again, I should have been using white thread at this point to match the piping.  Once I realized my mistake and ripped all of the piping off of the wrong side of the fabric, I switched to white thread to sew the piping onto the correct side.

See?  Now it's all fixed (after a lot of swearing and sighing).  The piping is sewn onto the RIGHT side of the fabric (with raw edges matching the raw edge of the fabric) using white thread to match the piping.

STEP FOUR: Assembling the basket pieces

Grab one of the handles and pin it to one of the short sides of the exterior piece of the basket, on the RIGHT side (the same side as the piping).  The outside edge of each end of the handle is 1/2" from the corner seam.  Baste them on within the seam allowance (between the raw edge and the stitch line for the piping).  Make sure the handle isn't twisted or anything.  It should look like this:

Turn the exterior piece inside out (so that the pretty side of the fabric is facing inward).  Take your lining piece and turn it so that the pretty side of its fabric is facing outward.  Nest the lining piece inside the exterior piece and pin into place (matching the short sides and carefully lining up all of the corner seams).  Triple check to make sure the right sides of the basket pieces are facing each other before you sew.

Stitch right on the seam line where you sewed the piping around the top of the exterior piece, BUT LEAVE A 4" GAP UNSEWN ALONG ONE OF THE LONG SIDES.  Turn the basket right side out and press everything into place.  Pin the opening shut, then topstitch closely to the piping all around the top edge of the basket (going slowly over the bulky corners and the handles!).  I got fancy and used red for the top thread to match my exterior piece and used green for the bobbin thread to match the lining.  It makes for a nicer finished product that way, especially if your bobbin stitching isn't as nice-looking as your top stitching.  Clearly, I am not afraid of rethreading my machine 49 times in the same simple project.

I took my iron and gave it all another good press for good measure.  Then, I folded the basket and pressed a bit where the corners of the basket should be around the bottom to give the basket a little more definition.  All done!

If you used a 1/2 yard of each fabric instead of fat quarters and have boatloads of piping and fusible fleece lying around, you will have enough to make two baskets.  Go wild and switch up the lining and the exterior.  Too bad I'm giving one of these away tomorrow, because they are pretty cute as a set.

Fill with treats or goodies and you have a nice little present!

Tutorial for personal use only, please.

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Hats, hats, and more hats!

Whoa, I fell off of the crochet blogging bandwagon...  I did not, however, fall off the crocheting bandwagon.  Since I last blogged, I have completed 43 crochet projects.  FORTY-THREE. Granted, 31 of those were 12" afghan squares, but still.  My hook has been a-flying, but my fingers haven't been a-typing.  What have I been up to?  Hats, afghan blocks, and amigurumi, mostly.  And an afghan that I can't blog about yet because I was one of the testers and it's super-secret until the pattern is released.

Let's start with the hats!

First up is a Minnie Mouse hat that I made for a sweet little girl turning two years old.  The pattern came from one of my favorite crochet blogs, Repeat Crafter Me.  I love how it uses buttons as polka dots!

Next, my friend, Pauline, asked me to make a beautiful hat (for her 5-year-old daughter) that was making the rounds on Facebook, but it turned out that the pattern was in Russian.  So, I used this pattern for the actual hat, and by using Google Translate, I was able to figure out the flowers from the Russian pattern.

Sonia loved the hat so much that I made her one, too!  And, then Pauline's co-worker asked if I might be able to make an adult-sized one, too!  It turned out just as beautiful, I think.

When one of my new Texas friends heard that I crochet, she asked if I might be able to make her a slouchy hat.  It turned out awesome and looked great on her, but you'll have to take my word for it because she didn't want her picture posted on the internet.  I should have had Sonia take a picture of me wearing it!  When the hat is just lying on a table, the brim rolls up and doesn't look all that great.  But I would definitely make this Neely Slouchy Hat again! It is a fantastic pattern.

I also made two more Elsa hats and one more Anna hat....  

I also crocheted two Spider-Man graph beanies (like the one I made for Cameron earlier this year)

This one is a bit bigger than the other one....  I hope both of them fit!

With no intended recipient in mind, I grabbed some pretty yarn (Red Heart Super Saver, "Tea Leaf" color) and gave the Crochet Seafarer's Cap a try....  I love this pattern so much!!  The hat turned out a tiny bit snug on my head, so I'm going to have to go up a hook size if I make it for an adult.  But how cool is the brim of this hat?  It almost looks knitted!  And it is very stretchy.  I highly recommend giving this pattern a try.

 I already have a red seafarer's cap about halfway done, and I know I'm making a few more hats before Christmas.  Crocheting hats is so satisfying because they usually only take a few hours and can be done while chatting (unlike a lot of the afghan blocks I've hooked over the last few months!).

More blog posts to come!

Belated Halloween costume report

This summer, my children became obsessed with "The Wizard of Oz" after my cousin, Cady Lane, sent them a CD of the soundtrack.  I then bought them a DVD of the movie and we proceeded to watch it 19 times.  It was only natural that Charlotte then wanted to be Dorothy for Halloween.

I remembered that Aunt Janet had sewn a Dorothy costume for her granddaughter a few years back, so I asked her if she still had that pattern.  Sweet AJ then bought me my own copy of the pattern (yes, she IS the coolest aunt ever) and I got to work a few weeks before Halloween.

This was the first time I had sewn a garment from a store-bought pattern since the crop tops Mom helped Erin and me sew when we were about 12 years old. This dress was a leeeeeeeeetle more complicated than that, and I was kind of surprised at how vague some of the directions were (probably because I'm not experienced at formal garment sewing).  I got it done though, without any major incidents.  Here is the finished result:

Thank you to my mother-in-law for hunting down the ruby red slippers from Meijer!  Since it's a tad colder in Michigan in October than it is in the Land of Oz, we put a long-sleeved shirt and leggings under the dress.  We also chose to skip the socks under the shoes.

The pattern was very to the movie version of the dress, right down to the ric rac around the neck and sleeves as well as the bias-cut strip around the skirt.  It's awesome, but it is very unfinished on the inside (perhaps because it is just a costume?).  I wasn't thrilled with the color of gingham that I had to use, but I had such a hard time finding any gingham at all (why on earth would Jo-Ann's not carry gingham?!?!?) that I counted my blessings that I was able to procure even this shade of blue.  Charlotte's sleeves were a bit shorter and her skirt was a little longer, but otherwise she was the spitting image of sweet Judy Garland (in terms of the dress, at least).

Peter kept saying he wanted to be Toto for Halloween, but then decided he would rather be Bumblebee (the Transformer -- not the animal).  Here are Dorothy and Bumblebee trying to eat doughnuts on a string at their grandparents' house a few nights before Halloween.

For the school Halloween party, We finally got Charlotte's hair in pigtails and scrounged up a stuffed dog to be Toto.  Here is sweet Dorothy outside her classroom that day.

We saw a couple of other Dorothys at school that day, but their costumes only vaguely resembled the one from the movie.  One of them looked like the sexy stripper fairy version of Dorothy, which was kind of creepy on a first grader.  Isn't this version horrifying?  Gack.

UNFORTUNATELY, it was snowing and sleeting the night of Halloween, so this is what the poor kids looked like all bundled up when they actually went trick or treating:

Too bad they don't make ruby red sparkly rain boots.

Nipiti Bonbons

I recently got a chance to help one of my favorite crochet pattern designers, Nipiti, test an exciting new bunch of tiny amigurumi patterns: the Nipiti Bonbons!  Crocheted with worsted weight yarn (like I did), they are about an inch and a half across, and they bring to mind little candies (hence the name "bonbons").   I used PicMonkey (what a fun website!) to make these picture collages of the bonbons I crocheted.  The Nipiti Bonbon patterns are available for purchase on Ravelry and Etsy.

Farm Animal Bonbons:

(I believe the cat pattern actually comes with the Farm Animals bundle, too, but I crocheted mine in black, so he looked most at home in my Halloween Bonbons collage.)

Aren't they adorable? Nipiti envisions these adorable little critters as 3D appliqués to be used in a million different ways.  My favorites of her ideas are the nursery mobile, keychains, Christmas tree ornaments, and backpack accessories.

Safari Animal Bonbons:

I couldn't decide which color scheme I liked the best for the lion, so I did both!

Woodland Animal Bonbons:

The gray wolf can be crocheted in orange, too, to be a fox!  That beaver kills me.  He might be my favorite.

Christmas Bonbons:

The Santa bonbon is amazing....  What an adorable little dude!

Halloween Bonbons:

How fun is that little witch?  Love her little braids.

Miscellaneous Bonbons:

Not surprisingly, Sonia has declared her favorite bonbon to be the unicorn.  I had to include the wolf again in this collage because what is Little Red Riding Hood without her nemesis?  Just a little girl, wandering the forest without proper parental supervision.  Speaking of Little Red, the bonbon pattern is amazing in its construction.

Sonia loves to play with the bonbons, organizing them into their various categories and debating which is her second favorite.

These little bonbons just flew off my hook!  I was just telling someone the other day how I like to crochet small items because the most fun part of any crochet project is the beginning and the end.  Slogging through a half-done lengthy crochet pattern gets tedious....  These bonbons take about a half hour each to crochet, so they are very satisfying and fun to create.

Great job designing the adorable little bonbons, Nipiti!!