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I have never had a go at making fabric baskets and so I
thought I would learn how and give the method a whirl. There are plenty of
tutorials to view on the internet (isn’t that a marvellous tool?) and it all
seemed very straight forward. I’m sure you know the expression ‘Just do it’, so
I did it! I found some chunky rope in a hardware store and I pulled out some long
2 ½” fabric strips left over from a distant quilt project. I cut the strips
down to 1 ¼” and I started to bind the rope, tidying and covering the raw ends with
the help of a bit of glue. When I came to the end of a strip, I used glue to
start the next strip and held it in place with a peg till it had stuck.
To start, I curled the end round and held it tight with a
pin. I threaded my machine with a multi-coloured thread and set it on a wide
zigzag with an open foot. I struggled to get the rope under the foot of my
machine but, once it was in position, it sewed as normal. I continued until it
was wide enough for a base, about 6”.
And then came the shaping which was done simply by angling
the base whilst continuing to sew. The only problem I encountered was when my
machine foot disappeared into the wrapped fabric but it was easy just to stop sewing
and swivel it out.
When the basket was the size I wanted it to be (ie I had run
out of the colourful fabric strips), I reduced the bulk of the rope by trimming
back some of the fibres it in and I bound and stuck it to taper the end.
For me, this project was a satisfying introduction to making
fabric baskets and I shall make more. (I will have to as I have half of the
rope left!). Next time I will use narrower fabric strips for a tighter wrap on
the rope.
The ease of constructing the fabric basket project has been a
stark contrast to the intricate small scale sewing of the Liberty sampler
blocks. That said, I did manage to complete another 16-patch block this week;
Road to Oklahoma. Bravo!
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