Woven Easter Basket - for kids too!

There's something so therapeutic about the weaving process: creating and then repeating a pattern to make a larger, stronger piece - it's just plain fun! Kids love it too, so today's tutorial includes an invitation to the kids to join us. I used Kraft-tex to make Easter baskets and since it's a non-fraying, double sided, strong material, it's the perfect "fabric" for these baskets. 

Let's get started! 

Here's what you'll need:
roll of Kraft-tex - grab a couple different colours to mix it up, or you can colour on it to add variety to your basket
scissors/rotary blade
sewing machine
optional: rivets and setting tools  

You may be able to find Kraft-tex at your local sewing shop, or you can find it online at C&T Publishing. In Canada, Flare Fabrics has a great selection of beautiful colours.

Begin by cutting the main panel, you'll need a piece 9" x 24" 
Once your main panel is cut, mark a 1" border all the way around, you can use a pencil and erase it later (remember this is paper we're working with) or you can use any other removable fabric marker.

Now mark long lines every inch as cutting guides.

Now cut along those lines, making sure to stop 1" from the short edge previously marked out. For this step, I used the rotary blade for the middle of my cuts, and then used scissors close to the end for more precision.

Remove your marking lines, your panel should now look like this

Prepare the strips to weave in: you'll need about 20  9" x 1" strips. I added a few pieces of glitter vinyl because it reminded me of sparkly Easter eggs. Note: Math says we need 22 strips, but unless your weaving is extremely tight, you won't be able to fit 22 strips in there.

Here's where the kids come in! We just did a simple weaving pattern of "over one, under one" but feel free to experiment with other patterns.

All done!

Once the weaving is done, sew a basting stitch at each end of the panel to secure the strips in place. Then trim off any excess to bring the panel back to 9" x 24" 

Bring the short panel ends together and overlap one end 1" over the other, clip in place and sew together, forming a tube. This is the trickiest part. You may need to stop half way, and start again from the other end.

​Now cut a circle of Kraft-tex matching the size of the tube (I just traced around the tube).

Clip the circle to one end of the tube and sew in place with a 1/2" seam allowance.

(If you've only used Kraft-tex, then your tube doesn't have a right way or wrong way yet; if you've used one-sided materials - like glitter canvas - then you'll want to turn the tube inside out before attaching the circle)

Once the circle is sewn on, the basket will be inside out, so turn it right side out - this is easily done by folding the tops down and then pushing the bottom out. Once the basket is right side out, the bottom seam won't be visible from the outside.

We're almost done! To finish the top, fold over the top inch toward the inside and sew in place with a 1/4" - 1/2" seam allowance.

For the handle, cut a strip of Kraft-tex 1" x 17" and sew or attach with rivets from one side of the basket across to the other. I placed the rivet 1/2" from the top of the basket.

Now you're ready to go on your Easter Egg hunt! 

If you're looking for some new ideas to fill the Easter basket, how about a custom Easter Egg for the wall? Remove it and reuse it each year. Use code REECE to save 10%

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