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How to Make a Fabric Storage Basket

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Inside: How to Make a Fabric Storage Basket

Fabric storage baskets are a great way to organize your scraps and stash. They are also a great way to use up some of your scraps.

This tutorial will show you how to make a fabric storage basket using a patchwork quilting technique. However, you can also make them out of a single piece of fabric and eliminate the optional quilting. 

I recommend you use a single fabric color theme to make a series of baskets to hold your scraps. For instance, use red scraps to make a basket that will hold your red fabric scraps, use blue scraps to make a basket to hold your blue fabrics, etc.

Want an ad-free, printable copy of this tutorial? Scroll to the bottom of this post for more details!

Materials

Fabric Storage Basket Tutorial Supplies

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Supplies:


Fabric Storage Baskets Tutorial

Step 1: Cutting Instructions

Fabric Storage Basket Tutorial - sampler

Basket Exterior Cutting Instructions

  • Cut one piece of fabric 18″ x 22″ for Basket Exterior. This can be from a fat quarter or a patchwork piece you create. See Patchwork Option below for ideas.

Patchwork Option:

Straight-cut a variety of fabric pieces in different widths and randomly piece together in a manner that is pleasing to your eye. Trim down to 18″ x 22″.

Pro Tip: I find the Stripology Ruler the perfect tool for cutting strips that will be pieced together. You can stack several layers of fabric together making it really fast to cut a variety of strips. Feel free to cut strips in a variety of sizes to give your patchwork a unique look. 

Basket Lining Cutting Instructions

Cut one piece of fabric 18″ x 22″ for Basket Lining. 

Note: The Basket Lining is designed to wrap over the top about 1/4″ to give the appearance of binding. If you prefer to have a wider “binding”, cut your fabric piece to 18.5″ x 22″. If you are using a fat quarter as your lining piece you can also trim down the top edge of the basket 1/4″ once it is constructed. Either method will give you the appearance of a wider binding.

Flexible Foam Cutting Instructions

  • Cut one piece of single-sided fusible flexible foam 20″ x 24″. 

Step 2: Quilting Basket Exterior

Quilting Fabric Storage Basket Tutorial
  • Fuse the flexible foam interfacing to the wrong side of the Basket Exterior fabric. Note: To quilt a diagonal design, mark from corner to corner to create a starting line. Turn and mark from the opposite side corner to corner. Use a guide to quilt 1.5″ apart using a 3.5mm stitch length.
  • Quilt the Exterior Fabric to the Flexible Foam. This will make your basket a little stiffer and it will make it sit more upright and slouch less.
  • Trim down to 18″ x 22″
  • Zigzag around the perimeter. This makes it easier when you’re putting everything together.
  • With right sides together, fold the fabric in half matching up the 18″ sides. Stitch together with a 3/8″ seam allowance.

Step 3: Making the Bottom of the Basket

  • In order for the basket to have a flat bottom you will need to create a pleat for both the Exterior and Lining fabrics. To do this, fold the bottom corner of your basket so it creates a triangle in the corner. Make sure that the triangle is centered with basket bottom. Pro Tip: Pressing the bottom edge flat will help you line up the seam for making your pleat.
Fabric Storage Basket Tutorial Pinned Corner
  • Pin the corner. Using a water erasable pen, make a mark 2.5” away from the corner. Draw a stitching line and then stitch across to create a pleat.
Fabric Storage Basket Tutorial - marking corner
  • Clip away the triangle, leaving a 1/4” seam allowance. Be sure to remove the markings.
  • Repeat on opposite Exterior corner.
Fabric Storage Basket Tutorial Trimmed Corner

Step 4: Make the Lining

Note: See Step 3 for image examples.

  • With right sides together, fold the Lining fabric in half matching up the 18″ sides. Stitch the two side seams together with a 3/8″ seam allowance.
  • Pin the corner and with a water erasable pen, make a mark 2.5” away from the corner.
  • Draw a stitching line and then stitch across to create a pleat.
  • Clip away the triangle, leaving a 1/4” seam allowance. Be sure to remove the markings.
  • Repeat on opposite Lining corner.

Step 5: Finishing the Basket

  • Press under a 1/4″ hem on Basket Lining.
  • Insert Basket Lining wrong sides together into the Basket Exterior.
  • Be sure to line up the side seams.
  • Fold over the turned hem 1/4″ and pin or clip to hold.
  • Stitch down 1/8″ from folded edge.

Pro Tip: A little bit of basting glue will help hold this in place.

Binding the edge image

Step 6: Fill Your Basket

The finished size of this fabric basket is approximately 12″ W x 6″ D X 8″ H. This makes it the perfect size for wrapped fabric on comic book storage boards, fat quarters, or leftovers project scraps.

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