A basket of goodies always makes a great gift idea. And if the basket is as pretty as ours, you’re giving a gift within a gift! Once the goodies are gone, the basket remains – ready to hold new items in the kitchen, bedroom or bath. Beautiful fabric sets the mood for the specific gift-giving occasion. We designed a set of unique “V-point” angled handles in a bold contrasting color, and a big satin bow adds the final sweet touch.

Our basket was originally made with both prints and solids from the Kissing Booth collection from BasicGrey for Moda Fabrics. This is an older collection that is no longer readily available, but new collections come out every season, and the options are huge to personalize with your own favorite quilting cottons.

The finished basket is approximately 8″ wide x 7½” high x 5″ deep.

Sewing Tools You Need

• Sewing machine and standard presser foot
• Walking or Even Feed foot; or engage your machine’s built-in fabric feeding system, such as the AcuFeed™ Flex system we use on many of our Janome studio machines
• Quarter Inch Seam foot

Fabric and Other Supplies

• ½ yard of 44″+ wide cotton fabric for the exterior; we originally used Dozen Roses in Candy Pink from the Kissing Booth collection by BasicGrey for Moda Fabrics
  NOTE: You could also use a fat quarter for the basket exterior.
• ½ yard of 44″+ wide cotton fabric for the lining and top binding; we originally used Grunge in Candy Pink from the Kissing Booth collection by BasicGrey for Moda Fabrics
• ¼ yard of 44″+ wide cotton fabric for the handles; we used originally Grunge in Chocolate from the Kissing Booth collection by BasicGrey for Moda Fabrics
• 1 yard of 20″+ wide medium-weight fusible interfacing; we used Pellon’s Shir-Tailor
  NOTE: We used a full yard so we could cut our strips as continuous 28″ lengths. If you pieced the interfacing (two 14″ lengths), you could get away with just ½ yard.
• ½ yard of 20″+ heavyweight fusible interfacing; we used Pellon’s Peltex 71F ultra-firm one-sided fusible
  NOTE: We wanted a stiff structure for our gift basket, if you prefer a softer body, substitute the heavyweight interfacing with fusible craft fleece
• 1 yard of wide coordinating ribbon for the handle bow; we use a  ½” satin ribbon in a candy pink
• All purpose thread to match fabrics
• See-through ruler
• Fabric pen or pencil
• Iron and ironing board
• Scissors or rotary cutter and mat
• Tape measure
• Seam gauge
• Seam ripper
• Straight pins
• Hand sewing needle

Getting Started

1. From the fabric for the basket’s exterior (Dozens Roses in Candy Pink in our sample), cut TWO 14″ wide x 10½” high rectangles.
2. From the fabric for the basket’s lining and top binding (Grunge in Candy Pink in our sample), cut the following:
   TWO 14″ wide x 10½” high rectangles
   ONE 3″ x 27″ strip for the binding
3. From the fabric for the basket’s handles (Grunge in Chocolate in our sample), cut TWO 3″ x 28″ strips.
4. From medium-weight fusible interfacing, cut TWO 3″ x 28″ strips.
5. From the heavyweight fusible interfacing, cut TWO 13″ x 9½” rectangles.
   NOTE: If you choose to use fusible craft fleece or batting rather than heavyweight interfacing, cut it 14″ x 10½” – the same as the fabric cuts. We cut the heavy interfacing smaller in order to keep it out of the seam. It is too bulky to stitch into the seam, but a softer substrate will be easier to handle within the seam allowance. Although, you might still want to consider grading the seam allowance to allow everything to lay as flat as possible.

At Your Sewing Machine & Ironing Board

Handles

1. Find the 3″ x 28″ fabric strips and the two 3″ x 28″ interfacing strips.
2. Following manufacturer’s instructions, fuse the interfacing strips to the wrong side of the fabric strips.
3. Fold each strip right sides together and pin along the 28″ raw edges.
   
4. Using a ½” seam allowance, stitch along the 28″ edge. Leave both ends open.
5. Turn right side out. Roll the seam slightly to the back, not all the way to the center back, just slightly away from the edge. Press flat.
   
6. Pin the handle strips right sides together at both ends (non-seam sides together), creating one big loop. Set aside.

Create the basket exterior

1. Find the two 14″ x 10½” exterior pieces and the two 13″ x 9½” heavyweight interfacing pieces.
2. Center the interfacing on the wrong side of the fabric so there is ½” of fabric showing beyond the interfacing on all sides.
3. Following manufacturer’s instructions, and using a pressing cloth, fuse the interfacing to the fabric.
4. Repeat with the remaining pieces of fabric and interfacing.
   
5. Place the two interfaced panels right sides together and pin along both sides. Leave the bottom edges unpinned.
6. Using a see-through ruler and a fabric pen or pencil, measure and mark a 2½” x 2½” square in each bottom corner.
   
7. From the side 2½” mark, measure up the side an additional l½” and make a mark.
   
8. From this new 1½” mark, measure an additional 1½” up and make a third mark.
9. Repeat on the opposite side.
   
10. The 1½” space between marks two and three will be left open in each side seam for the handles.
11. Using a ½” seam allowance stitch each side seam, starting from the top and ending at the first handle opening mark. Lock your seam.
    NOTE: You’ll see in the photo below, we actually wrote “leave open” on the interfacing to remind ourselves. You’ll also notice we are using our Janome Walking foot.
    
12. Move to the second handle opening mark and stitch just the 1½” distance from this mark to the top of the corner square. Lock your seam and repeat on the opposite side.

Attach handles to exterior

1. Find the handle loop.
2. Insert the raw ends through one side opening at an angle.
   
3. Push the ends through so they extend just beyond the edges of the seam allowance on the inside.
   
4. Repeat to insert the opposite raw ends of the loop into the opposite side opening. Be very careful that there are no twists in your handles.
5. Securely pin both ends in place.
6. Close up each 1½” opening, using a ½” seam allowance and matching the previously sewn seams.
   
7. Turn the basket exterior right side out and pull open the handles at each seam to form a “V”. Pin in place.
   
8. Continue pinning the handles to the exterior, following the angle as it splits out from the seam. Stop pinning 1½” from the top raw edge. This is where the seam that attaches the handle to the exterior will stop and where you will make a horizontal seam across the handle, securing it in place.
   
9. As a second check, at this point, the inside edge of the handle is approximately 2½” from the side seam.
   NOTE: If desired, re-thread your machine with contrasting thread in the top and bobbin. We used a light pink. However, this topstitching is tricky, and you may struggle a bit to keep your seam perfectly straight. If you are concerned about your abilities, stay with a thread color that matches your handle fabric and any slight seam “wobbles” will be less noticeable.
10. Switch to a Quarter Inch Seam foot if possible and topstitch along both sides the “free” edges of the handles – the part of the handles that will not be sewn to the exterior. We unpinned our handle slightly, leaving the horizontal marking pins in place as a starting and ending point for our topstitching as shown below. When the topstitching is complete, simply re-pin the handle against the exterior at the appropriate angle.
    
    NOTE: The next steps are a bit challenging because you will be maneuvering the exterior basket “tube” (remember the bottom is still open but both side seams are sewn) under your needle while topstitching. Go slowly and move the basket around to get in the corners of the “V”. We tried the stitching with our Walking foot, but found our Quarter Inch Seam foot made it easier to sew a straight line. It’s okay to fold up the bottom of the basket to move around if you need to; it will smooth back out.
11. Topstitch from the bottom point of the “V” up to the marking pin (1½” from the top). This is also the point at which the free-handle topstitching you just did should stop. Pivot and stitch across the handle, then pivot again and topstitch down to the inner point of the “V”.
12. Pivot at this inner point and stitch back up to the opposite marking pin, stitch across, pivot once more, and stitch down, ending where you began at the bottom point of the “V”. Repeat for the opposite handle.
    
13. With both handles attached, turn the basket exterior wrong side out.
14. Cut out both the bottom 2½” corners.
15. Pin the remaining bottom edge in place. Stitch across the bottom using a ½” seam allowance.
16. Box each bottom corner. We triple stitched our seam for security.
    
17. Turn right out and push out the corners into position.
    
    NOTE: If you are new to boxed corners, check out our tutorial for step-by-step instructions.

Lining

1. Find the two 14″ x 10½” lining rectangles.
2. Place the two lining pieces right sides together, aligning all raw edges. Pin in place along both sides and across the bottom.
3. Using a ½” seam allowance, stitch both sides and across the bottom, pivoting at the corners.
4. With the lining still wrong side out, the next step is to box the bottom corners of the bag. As above, we measured and cut 2½” squares to yield a 5″ final corner.
   
5. Pinch and pull apart the corners and stitch across (we double stitched).
   
6. As we mentioned above, if you are new to boxed corners, check out our tutorial for step-by-step instructions.
7. Leave the lining wrong side out and set aside.

Top binding and final assembly

1. Find the 3″ x 27″ binding strip.
2. Pin the 3″ ends right sides together.
3. Using a ½” seam allowance, stitch the ends to create a loop. Press the seam open.
   
4. Fold the loop in half, wrong sides together, so it is now a 1½” x 26″ loop.
5. Find the basket lining. It should be wrong side out. Find the exterior basket. It should be right side out.
6. Slip the lining inside the exterior so the two are now wrong sides together. Align the bottom boxed corners and the top raw edges.
7. Slip the binding loop over the exterior of the basket. Align the raw edges of the binding loop with the top raw edges of the basket. Align the seams of the loop with the side seams of the basket. Pin in place all around.
   
8. Using a ½” seam allowance, stitch all around the top through all the layers.
   
9. Press the seam allowance up towards the binding.
10. Fold the binding over to the inside of the basket, incasing the seam allowance. Pin in place.
    
11. Hand stitch the binding in place.
    
12. Tie a pretty bow on to one side of the front handle just above the horizontal topstitching seam.
    

Project Design: Alicia Thommas
Sample Creation: Debbie Guild