


These clever storage baskets are not only cute and handy, they're also a secret recycling project. The sides and bottoms of each basket are stiffened with recycled cardboard! But wait ... they have another hidden talent: they collapse and fold flat to store.
In the nursery, use them for creams, diapers, wash cloths and other diaper changing accessories. You could fill a whole shelf set with bright and beautiful baskets. And yet, why let the nursery have all the fun? We bet you have a lot of cardboard just waiting to be recycled. I see bread baskets and mail baskets and gift baskets ... oh my!
Our sample was made for a baby girl's nursery, using the stunning Patty Young Andalucia collection. For information on where to buy, read Stylish Baby Nursery: Designing with Bold Colors & Patterns. This article also includes suggestions for creating an alternate fabric palette that would work well for a boy's nursery.
Sewing Tools You Need
- Any Sewing Machine (we recommend the Janome ThreadBanger TB-30)
Fabric and Other Supplies
- Fabric for outer box covering (Fabric A) - ½ yard of 45" wide fabric PER BOX: we used Patty Young's Andalucia in Petal Flora (box 1) and Earth Mod Blooms (box 2)
- Fabric for inside lining (Fabric B) - ¼ yard of 45" wide fabric PER BOX: we used Patty Young's Andalucia in Petal Jester (box 1) and Kiwi Jester (box 2)
- Scraps for binding – you will need two strips per box, each strip is 1¾" x WOF (width of fabric). You can use either a contrasting fabric or a matching fabric: we used Patty Young's Anadalucia in Petal Jester (box 1) and Petal Floral (box 2)
- Chipboard, cardboard, or any heavy weight card stock (for box sides)
- All purpose thread in colors to match fabrics
- Leather machine needle (in addition to your regular needle)
- See-through ruler
- Chalk pencil
- Scissors or rotary cutter and cutting mat
- Iron and ironing board
- Straight pins
We're going to use a leather machine needle in this project - even though our supplies don't call for leather. A leather needle is a super sharp, heavy-duty needle for sewing through difficult materials. Leather is one example; we're using it for this project to sew through the cardboard that makes the sides of the boxes.
Getting Started
- Using your see-through ruler and chalk pencil, cut a 7½" x 9½" piece of fabric from Fabric A. Then, cut a strip from Fabric A that measures 6½" x 33". These pieces will form the bottom and outside walls of the box.
- Cut two strips from the binding scraps that each measure 1¾" x WOF (width of fabric). We'll use this for the binding of the box – the fabric around the top and bottom edges of the box.
- From Fabric B, cut one 7½" x 9½" piece and one 6½" x 33" strip. These will cover bottom cardboard insert and the inside walls.
- From the cardboard, cut pieces as follows:
Four pieces that measure 6" x 3¼"
Two pieces that measure 6" x 8¾"
One piece that measures, 6½" x 8½"
At Your Sewing Machine & Ironing Board
Creating the 'walls'
- Fold the 6½" x 33" piece of Fabric A (outer fabric) in half, with right sides together, and stitch up the 6½" side, using a ½" seam allowance. Turn right side out and press seam open.
- Using the 6½" x 33" piece of Fabric B (inner fabric), repeat step one.
- Place the sewn Fabric B piece inside the sewn Fabric A piece, placing them WRONG sides together and matching up the seam lines.
- Pin the bottoms of the two pieces together, and stitch around the bottom, using a ½" seam.
- Stitch down the existing vertical seam line created by the inner and outer fabrics. (This is the seam that was created when you sewed the fabrics into the 'box' - you should have lined these seam lines up in step 3.)
- This vertical seam will create a starting point to measure the other vertical seams around the box. With your chalk pencil, mark additional seam lines at the following intervals: 9", 3½", 3½", 9", and 3½". (In other words, you mark 9" from the first seam line, then 3½" from that newly drawn mark, then 3½" from that new one, etc, until you end up back at the starting line.)
- Stitch a vertical seam along each drawn mark. You should now have a total of six sewn vertical seam lines that join the outer fabric and the inner fabric with the wrong sides together. These vertical seam lines have created 'capsules' where we will insert the cardboard to make the box stand up. Quite smart, no?
Creating and attaching the bottom of the box
- With the wrong side facing up and the edges of the fabric inside the box, pin the 7½" x 9½" piece of Fabric A to the 'walls' you just made. This creates the box bottom.
- Align the corners of this bottom piece with the vertical seams on the wall, line up your raw edges, and match long sides to long sides and short sides to short sides. The raw edges of the fabric should extend to the outside of the box, and when you look into the box you should see the wrong side of the bottom fabric.
- Stitch all around, using a ½" seam. After attaching, carefully trim the seam allowance to ¼" – we will be absorbing this raw edge into the binding in the steps below, so we want to reduce the bulk as much as possible.
Creating binding and attaching to bottom
- Next we will create the binding for the bottom of the box. Find on of your 1¾" x WOF strips and trim to 1¾" x 34" (this is the perimeter of the box plus 2" for a tail we'll use to finish our binding neatly). Fold the strip in half lengthwise and press. Now fold the raw edges in toward the middle lengthwise seam line, and fold together. Press. (Your raw edges are now inside the binding strip.
- Repeat to create your second binding strip for the top. Set this top piece aside. Remember, you can choose to use either matching or contrasting fabric for the binding; you could even make the top and bottom bindings out of different fabrics.
- Pin bottom binding strip to the bottom of the box, encasing the raw seam allowance inside the fold of your bias tape. Carefully pin.
- Stitch binding in place, keeping your seam line a "scant" (very small) ¼" in from the bottom folded edges, but still being sure to catch both sides of the bias tape in the seam. Stitch all the way around the perimeter of the bottom, but stop about 1" from the end for finishing.
- We cut our original binding piece about 2" longer than the perimeter (step #1 above), so you should have a slight tail at the end of your binding. Trim this to about 1-1½" (enough to overlap the start of your binding by about ½"). Fold under the end of the tail to create a clean edge and wrap around the start of the binding. Overlap about ½" and stitch in place, matching your seam line. Be sure to backstitch at the end of the binding to secure it in place.
Stiffening the walls with cardboard and attaching top binding
- Insert the cardboard pieces between the vertical seam lines to stiffen the walls of the box.
- Switch the regular sewing needle currently in the machine to the leather needle.
- Pin the other binding strip to the top of the box, encasing the raw edges and the top of the cardboard inside the binding.
- Stitch a 'scant' (very small) ¼" in from the edge of the binding.We are using the leather needle for this step because it is extra sharp and heavy duty for sewing through the cardboard. Attach the binding, following steps 4 and 5 above. Stitch slowly - your machine is working very hard to get through the thick cardboard - sort of like running uphill. You may find it helpful to lengthen your stitch length a bit at this point, so your machine can get the job done in less stitches.
Making the bottom insert
- Lay the 6½" x 8½" cardboard piece on the wrong side of the 7½" x 9½" piece of fabric B. Fold the edges of the fabric over the cardboard, being careful to keep the fabric tight on the corners. Press in place and stitch (you're stitching through fabric and cardboard again so you should still be using the leather needle in your machine) around all sides to secure the fabric to the cardboard. Stitch close to the raw edge of the fabric so it will lay nice and flat. Press again after stitching.
- Insert the fabric covered cardboard into the bottom of the box, with the fabric side facing up.
- To collapse the box, simply remove this bottom insert; the short sides will fold in between the cardboard panels, and the whole thing will fold flat for storage.
Hints and Tips
Alternate box sizes
You can adapt the instructions above to any size box.
- First, determine the size you want the finished box to be, and cut the fabric to: the perimeter of the box plus 1/2" all around (for the seam allowances) x the height you want the finished 'walls' to be. Cut one piece of fabric for the outside and one piece of fabric for the inside.
- Determine where you want the corners of your box, and stitch four vertical seam lines in those locations.
- Divide the seams on the SHORT sides in half, and stitch another seam line in this location (this allows the box to 'collapse' when you take out the bottom insert).
- Once you know where the corners of the box will be, you can cut your bottom fabrics to the appropriate size. You'll need two pieces: one for the box bottom (add ½" all around for the seam allowance) and one for the cardboard bottom insert (add ¾" all around to give you enough fabric for folding over the cardboard).
- Then cut two pieces of binding long enough to fit the perimeter of the box plus about 2" for finishing.
- Cut cardboard for sides to size to fit in the 'capsules,' and sew everything together. Just remember, the bigger the box you hope to create, the stiffer the cardboard will need to be to support the sides and the contents.
Project Design: Alicia Thommas
Sample Creation: Aimee McGaffey
Other machines suitable for this project include the White 2200 Multi-Tasker and the Singer 8673 Curvy.
How do you go around the corners on the base without it puckering somewhat?
@ sima - there is likely to be at least a little puckering. It will also help to stitch into each corner and stop with the needle in the down position, lift the presser foot to turn and adjust, then replace the presser foot and stitch the next side.
I see other people have had problems with this. So it would really help if you could add some pictures on how you get to put the box under your presser foot and actually sew the top of the box and attach the binding. With the diagrams it looks super easy but so far I don't see it possible to squeeze a cardboard box under the presser foot even less sewing a binding to it.
@ Cecillia82 - So sorry this project did not work for you as you'd hoped. Some people have had challenges, but others have not. And, yes, we really did made the samples on a standard home machine. If you'd still like to make a small basket, you might prefer our other style - it is quite popular: http://www.sew4home.com/projects/storage-solutions/you-asked-4-it-struct...
Well, after 2 days of trying with this box I give up! It went all quite well until I reached the step of sewing the top of the box. First I pinned all around the top of the box horizontaly, when I tried to sew it is was imposible! There is no way I can squeeze this box under the foot of my Janome 2030DC, I can only sew the middle (1.5 inches) of both long sides and that is all. I even have a second sewing machine which is smaller and got to sew a bit more than that but when I reached the corners is was imposible to turn the box so that I could continue the seam. I cannot even imagine attaching a binding to that and make it look acceptable.
Can i use this same pattern if I have an already made canvas basket?
@ Tammy Bigelow - I don't think it would be your best option to use an existing basket. This design is really best from the ground up. Adjusting all your sizing to fit what you have would probably take longer than just starting with new cuts.
Thank you for your response . I am covering 16 canvas baskets with fabric for a freind but have searched the internet for an idea on how to do it . Do u know any patterns or an idea? I used your general idea sewing all the sides together . I think I have it figured out :) thank you !
@ Tammy Bigelow - hope it all works out That's a tough one to troubleshoot long distance - without being able to know what you're starting with. But - I'm glad we've been a little bit of help.
Wow:D It looks cute and not so hard to make:D I was thinking of doing a box like that for a long time, but now I'm really motivated to do it.
these are adorable and just what I need for the play room!! You should make a video tutorial to help a sista out lol...I am a beginner
Finding the right size box to fit my shelves is impossible! This is a wonderful tutorial that meets my needs.
Easy to follow instructions, using items I have, size to fit, who could ask for anything more. Thank you
I tried to post this once and it seemed to vanish, so I'm trying again. Sorry if there's a repeat! So far in these instructions I've caught two serious errors that I think may account for some of the problems people are having. The first is in how much fabric is called for. The directions say 1/2 yd for Fabric and and only 1/4 for Fabric B, but when looking at the actual pieces cut from each, MORE fabric is needed from Fabric B (for the binding strips). However, the bigger problem is that the bottom fabric piece is too small and referred to as two different sizes. In the initial instructions, it says it should be 7 1/4" wide and later, when it's being used, 7 1/2". However, if the finished dimensions of the box are supposed to be 7" on the short side, even 7 1/2" is not enough to give the 1/2" seam allowance asked for and 9 1/2" is a bit short too, allowing only 1/4" per side. I had to recut all my bottom pieces to 8x10" (which meant I had to go buy more fabric and waste all the original bottoms, until I can find a scrap use for them! Because my original fabric was on sale and normally quite expensive, I had to get cheaper fabric and my bottoms will now not match the sides) and then I could pin and sew the bottom easily as the directions say. I considered just folding the seam allowance underneath the bottom of the box and pinning the too-small bottom cuts to it at 1/4" and forgoing the bottom binding (wouldn't look pretty, but the bottoms are so rarely looked at anyway) but I decided I wanted to be perfectionist about it. Honestly, I would like to know how the people who made this exactly as directed got it to work--there was simply no way the bottoms would fit on and I triple-checked my cuts to be sure they were completely accurate.
@ medinav - Both of your posts appeared. The first post is below as a reply to someone else's post.
The binding is shown in the ingredients list as a third item -- in addition to the 1/4 yard of fabric. "Scraps for binding – you will need two strips per box, each strip is 1¾" x WOF (width of fabric). You can use either a contrasting fabric or a matching fabric: we used Patty Young's Anadalucia in Petal Jester (box 1) and Petal Floral (box 2)"
We are sorry if that was confusing. I read through the steps again (this is an old article... had to refresh my memory), and I can see how we might have caused some confusion in the Getting Started section by referring to "Fabric B"
(which is what we used for the sample) rather than scraps. I've made that change - thanks for the suggestion.
Regarding size of the bottom, it should be 7½" x 9½". I'm not sure what to tell you other than these are the measurements we used for our sample. As with all our free tutorials, explanations and instructions on this website, these steps were published in good faith and had been reviewed for accuracy, however, we can't guarantee the exact results seen in our samples - the variables in materials and labor are too great.
Thanks for replying! Yeah, I realize the binding strips can come from other fabric (I used scraps). I more meant that the other cuts are almost identical in size between A and B, but the fabric amounts called for are drastically different. I'm legitimately curious, though--if, as you said in another comment, the finished dimensions are supposed to be 7" on the short side, how do you get a 1/2" seam allowance on both sides out of a 7 1/2" piece of fabric? And I don't mean to be overly critical; generally, the directions are very clear and, though I'm having trouble getting my machine to go around the box corners cleanly, they're generally coming out quite well and I love the idea.
Great idea. I'm making a few of these to corral my socks, undies, makeup, bath items...the possibilities are endless! If anyone is struggling with the corners, there's a good tutorial on design sponge.
Wow, what a disappointing project. Harder than it looks, and I'm a pretty experienced craft sewer. Think I'll try one of the other ideas here. Too bad, I liked the sturdiness of the cardboard inserts.
I don't think it's just you--I'm pretty sure there are some rather serious errors in the sizes of fabric cuts being asked for! The math just doesn't add up.
P.S. It helped me to attach the binding to the top to turn my machine perpendicular to the edge of the table with the sewing end hanging off an inch or two, allowing me to turn the hollow end of the box around as I sewed. I also made a "pocket" for the inside bottom, and added a little loop to one edge so that I can easily pull the bottom out.
Love the way mine turned out. I must admit, I had to finaggle the binding a little, but I think this is one of those things that, the more you do, the nicer they turn out, you just have to be patient. Thanks for the instructions!
Thank you for the wonderful instructions and fantastic ideas. Can't wait to try more of your suggestions! Thanks!
I was thinking of glueing mine on also. thank for letting me know it worked out for you. I do not feel like going out to buy a new needle lol. I figured glue the fabric to the bottome piece also. I'm using them as storage for kids toys- blocks, legos, crayons. I did buy plactic canvas as inserts so they will become washable also, wasn't sure how well it would sew on.
You can use a cardboard with more than one wave layer - those are strong enough to protect a refrigerator or washing machine:) Or you can insert two cardboard pieces to stiffen the walls of the box instead of just one. To make it really unbreakable, you should put one piece of cardboard vertically and another horizontally in each wall (I hope it's clear - waves should be in different directions). That way the box will be stiff in all directions. It will be thicker though, but I hope it'll fit.
(sorry for my english.. it's not my native language...)
Obrigada por dividir com a gente.
bjs.
Darli
BTW, Thank you for the tutorial. I'm looking forward to making these. I'm also looking forward to proving to My Guy that saving boxes (amongst many other things) does in fact save money and creates beautiful items through recycling!
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