Crafty Monday: Make a Sewing Basket

In our Sewing Thursday series we're making pockets from samplers intended for a sewing basket. But what if you don't have a sewing basket or something nice to hang your pockets from?

Let's make one!

To make your sewing basket you will need:

Materials: 

1. Popsicle sticks (about 400 or so. Just get a big box of them. You'll use them again.)
2. School Glue (I used the Glue All type)
3. A wooden block or knob for the top (you can find these in the wood section of your craft store or you can get really inventive and use other items. Just make sure you can glue it to your box.)
4. A large piece of paper

Crafting Time: Approximately 3-4 hours

I wish I could take 100% credit for this idea, but I can't. I got it from the Big A** Book of Crafts by Mark Montano. I did, however, make it and will suggest some changes varying from his instructions, as they were slightly confusing and a little vague. I haven't re-made the basket yet because my kids discovered my sticks and glue and went to town, but I have marked these suggestions in red if you'd like to try them and see if they will work. 

To begin working your basket, make an octagon from your paper with 5.5" outside edges. There were instructions in the book on how to do this by folding a piece of craft or newspaper, but they were confusing to me. I'm not a paper crafter, so it was hard to figure out and I ended up cutting the wrong side or something. Anyway, you can see where I taped it back together. If I'd followed THESE INSTRUCTIONS I may have had more success. 

So if you successfully wrangled your base out of paper, it's time to lay out the sticks. Start by laying four sticks on opposite sides. 

first layer, make sure your angle are even

Then lay four more sticks on the remaining sides, overlapping the ends. Place a dab of glue on the ends of the sticks to attach them once you think they're fairly even. *Start with the sticks facing in along the fold lines of the octagon so that they meet in the middle, then lay your sticks around the edges. The book has you do this at the end, building your bottom after the basket is made. I think by laying them first, you'll have a better chance at getting them even. 

Suggested layout

Now start building up your layers by gluing the sticks on opposing sides. Kind of like building a log cabin where they are layered in a criss-cross manner. 

building up the layers

This will take you a while. I suggest turning on a good movie or audio book and getting into a rhythm. Work until your basket measures the height you want it. For our pockets, we'll need about 7-8". However, I only made mine about 5" tall for the demonstration.

When you've reached the height you want it, start layering your sticks so that they are offset by about 1/8" and moving toward the inside. As you glue these next layers, your sticks will start to have longer ends and you'll need to move your glue areas in a bit. This creates a nice structural effect on the basket and makes the top look like a very nicely carved piece of wood. It also creates a nice lip to hang things from. *You could get even more creative here and make your sticks look like the top of a vase, moving them first in, then back out. 

Start offsetting the sticks toward the inside

Another view of the offset toward the inside

Now to build your lid. Without gluing it down, add a layer of sticks to your last layer. Glue another layer of four sticks to this layer and start building up, continuing to offset your sticks inward and making the top smaller. *Put a piece of paper, a pencil , or some other object between the layers of the main basket and the lid once they have dried slightly so that you can see where it begins and ends. 

Work your lid until you have an area small enough to lay your sticks across it in a straight line. I found that with the 1/8" offset, this took about 4 more layers than suggested in the book. Remove the top from the basket and finish on another piece of paper or newspaper.

*Lay your sticks so that you have a square. 

*Lay sticks on top of each other to even out the layers and create an area where the ends of the sticks will overlap the edges and have something to grab onto.  

Make a layer straight across the top,closing up the hole. 

To finish the top, glue the wooden block or your chosen handle to the top and allow it to dry. 

To make the bottom as described in the book, lay sticks along the folded edges of your paper and glue to the empty area under the second layer of the base. If your main basket is dry enough and you're feeling adventurous, you can flip it over and go without the paper.

Lay the sticks from one side all the way across to the other side. Fill in the opposing sides laying sticks in the opposite direction. Add a layer of sticks from two of the remaining sides going across the first layer and filling in the empty triangles, then fill in the remaining two sides as you did previously. 

I do suggest laying these first though, as described above. I actually think it would make more sense to lay out the bottom of the basket first, layering the cross members along the seam lines, then laying sticks in one vertical and horizontal layer, then repeating in the opposing directions so that you have a base to work from. I think that making the square would allow for more precision in making sure that the edges and angles were even. 

See how there were gaps between the sticks with this method? :( 

I had to make accommodations for the gaps by layering a couple of the sticks off center. 

Also added additional sticks for the cross members so I had something to attach the sticks to

And now you have a sewing basket! If you follow my suggestions or have a better way of doing this, please comment below or upload some pictures to our Flikr group. You could also paint it. I like the wooden/wicket look of the basket, but I may paint it white. Show me your baskets!