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!

Sewing On Thursday: Sewing Skill Builder Part One

This week also starts our sewing skill builder! Yep, that's right. We have a Block of the Month and a sewing skill builder. I've been pretty busy at the machine. Not to mention, I also have 2 quilts in the works!

Ok, so part one!

This first bit is actually pretty easy, but it will give you a chance to play with your machine's zig zag settings a bit. I think this is a function modern sewists sometimes take for granted, but the zig zag function wasn't available until Helen Augusta Blanchard patented it in 1873, 27 years after the sewing machine's first patent by Elias Howe. It wasn't really common to have a machine that could both zig zag stitch and straight stitch until the early 1900s. Even then it took a special gadget to perform the function. Today's machines are electronically or mechanically equipped with a zig zag function built in.

Therefore, behold the zig zag!

Materials:

One 7x12" piece of fabric
Thread
Stabilizer, freezer paper or piece of copy paper

For my sampler I chose shades of yellow and pink. I'm not big on off-white, but think the fabrics I chose have a vintage flavor to them.

Since I changed out the colors of the fabrics, I also wrote a little sticky note to myself on the book with the colors I'm using in exchange. .

So for our zig zag sampler, you may want to iron on a piece of lightweight removable stabilizer or freezer paper or put a piece of typing paper behind it. This helps to keep the fabric from bunching up. I used freezer paper because it irons on easily and peels right back off.

Keep the long side to the top and sew the zig zags spaced evenly apart, but leave enough room to run a line of straight stitching between them. Vary your zig zag widths, but try to leave the stitching distance about the same. We want a nice close line of satin stitching.

Once you have sewn your stitches, take the fabric over to the cutting mat and cut a 2" strip off of both sides. Your center piece should be about 2.75" wide. Take the center strip and turn it upside down.

cut 2" off sides

turn middle section upside down

Sew your sides back on to the center strip.

You now have the front of your first pocket piece. In later sessions we'll be shaping and sewing them all onto a backing and actually making the pockets.

Next week we'll discuss making an openwork sampler pocket. For this you'll need a piece of loose weave fabric along with your other fabrics. I used a piece of burlap, but you can choose something else, as long as it has a loose weave where you can pull threads from. Until then, happy stitching! 

Sewing on Thursday: Sewing Skill Builder Series

Most of us buy a sewing machine with a singular goal in mind. Learning to sew probably tops the list for those that don't know how. We want to make things. Awesome things. All those things we see on Pinterest! So we buy a sewing machine. And it sits in the corner. Because we can't figure out how to thread it. Or use it. And all those things we had dreams of creating sit in the corner with it. Or fill up our Pin boards.

Bone needles

Which brings up the question, how did people learn to do things before they had the internet? It was passed down from generation to generation. First, people learned to create by hand. They used bones, animal guts, and eventually iron needles.

They passed these techniques down and future generations improved on them. Then in the 1800's the first functional sewing machines were built, but were failed enterprises because of fears the "machines" would put tailors and seamstresses out of business! Elias Howe received the first patent on a working sewing machine in 1846, upon which Isaac Singer stole used Howe's patented mechanism to make a foot treadle machine that became wildly popular. Bellis, Mary. The History of the Sewing Machine. About.com http://inventors.about.com/od/sstartinventions/a/sewing_machine.htm

My circa 1908-1913 Singer Treadle - needs work, but I love it

As everyone was trying to invent the machine, seamstresses across the world were still teaching their daughters the "old ways" of mending, stitching, sewing, and embroidery by hand, in preparation for running their own households. Mothers would sit their daughters down and show them a stitch, then give them instructions to create sample pieces. As the girls worked on their sample pieces, they would create works that blended all of their stitches and lessons together. These became known as samplers and some were quite valuable later on.

So with the background lesson, we come back around to using a sewing machine. Mothers don't always set their daughters down and teach them to sew anymore. Grandmothers may live somewhere far away, have passed away, or never learned themselves. So arts start to disappear. Thankfully, we DO have the internet and books. Lots and lots of books.

I love finding vintage sewing books. They are chock full of information that you can't even find on the internet today. One of these books that I found I have treasured for a long time. It's called Creative Machine Stitchery and is published through Better Homes and Gardens in 1985. I've been wanting to work through it bit by bit and teach myself some new things, making a sampler and putting it to good use.


One of the lessons in the book is on using your machine's potential. Aha! This is sounding good enough to do a skill builder series on!

Sampler pockets for sewing basket

I'm finally going to go through this book step-by-step and share what I learn with you, hopefully teaching you some things along the way and helping you to use that machine sitting in the corner. There are a few lessons and projects that I will not be using, but I'm choosing the ones that I think will help improve and teach sewing. Here is the outline and what you have to look forward to:

Lessons

1-6: Sewing samplers to create sewing basket pockets
You will learn to create various size zig zags, openwork, puffing, couching, smocking, and faux French hand sewing.

7: Assembling the Samplers

8:  Fabric Collage Pin Cushion
We will learn how to do a little pit of applique to make a pin cushion to hang off of our sewing basket sampler.

9. Making a Rug out of Yarn - on the sewing machine
This is one of those very interesting techniques that have been rediscovered and are very exciting for me!

10. Using the machine to stitch on canvas
We'll use our machines to make needlepoint-style stitches on canvas

Materials

These are the materials needed for the first 8 lessons. The other two I'll give you plenty of heads up for as we get nearer.

• 1/4 yard each of 3 different fabric colors (they use ecru, off-white, and cranberry)
• 1/2 yard muslin
• 1/2 yard quilt batting
• 3 colors of sewing thread to match your fabrics
• polyester fiberfill
• 1 package pre-made binding for pockets, 2 pkgs. pre-made binding for alternating pockets and to join pockets. (you can also buy a little extra of your 3 materials to make binding) 
• 17" 1/4" wide lace
• 8.5" of 1.25" wide lace beading (I'll be doing a crochet lesson on this before we get to it, so if you can crochet it, don't buy it! Same goes for the doily. I'll be making mine, but not sharing the lesson.) 
• 17" entredeux (french lace that goes between panels. I will also be giving a lesson on how to make this homemade, but it may be worthwhile to purchase it.) 
• 1 yard Belgian lace
• Lace doily (very small, for pincushion)
• cording of various thickness
• flower applique
• typing or stabilizing paper
• marking pen
• elastic sewing thread 

Ok, so here's your chance! Let's do this thing and learn how to use that machine!