When shopping recently for some pretty plants, we noticed most garden centers offered their inventory in round plastic pots… rather unattractive round plastic pots. Time for a S4H solution! Each of our small, medium, and large cuffed fabric baskets are designed to cover a standard plastic pot sitting on a drainage saucer. No need to re-pot right away. Simply drop the plastic pot and saucer into the basket, adjust the cuff at the best height, and set it in the sun to thrive. 

A set of plants in these cute and clever baskets would make a lovely gift idea. Match the fabric to the recipient’s home décor or to the plants themselves. These covers would also be lovely as table decorations for a family gathering – or set up an assembly line and make matching baskets to adorn the tables at a wedding or other large event. 

We did quite a bit of research to determine our small, medium, and large size options. Detailed measurements are shown below should you wish to adjust for a custom fit to pots you may have on hand. Of course, although we’ve put together this lovely plant theme as inspiration, you can certainly use these boxy baskets to hold whatever you’d like. Use one in the bathroom for small towels, on your desk for stationery, or in the sewing room for notions or thread spools. That’s the cool thing about sewing projects; you can take the idea and make it your own.  

Our basket set is put together as a beginner-friendly project, and we include a lesson on one of the most common techniques for anyone just starting out with 3D sewing: insetting a square base panel. You’ll find extra-detailed steps and photos, showing exactly how to get a perfect flat finish. 

We’re using the Janome Loft 100 for this project: an entry level machine for an entry level project! We love our top-of-the-line Janome studio machines that are packed with features, accessories, and options; but we know it’s just as important to showcase basic models in action. Most people don’t start out right at the top of the hill. We work our way up, each new machine getting more fabulous as we climb. The amazing thing about the Janome line is how the core elements are there in every model: quality and reliability + precision and power.

Our thanks go out as always to Janome America for sponsoring this project. It helps us keep nearly all our content free to you! It also means we get to use their remarkable machines and accessories for all our projects. As mentioned above, we chose the Loft 100 for this one, and we pulled in the Janome Sliding Guide specialty presser foot to allow us to get the super straight and even topstitching around the cuff. Another option we tried that worked well for this step was the Janome Border Guide presser foot.

We suggest combining a quilting weight cotton and a lightweight to mid-weight canvas. The blend of weights gives the basket good stand-up structure while still being flexible enough to fold down the top to create your best height. The only stabilizer is a single panel of heavyweight fusible interfacing in the exterior base panel.

By using quilting cotton for the exterior, you have the widest variety of colors and motifs to blend with your décor. If making more than one basket as we did, keeping the lining the same is a great way to bring them all together as a coordinated set. 

Learning to insert a flat square or rectangular base into a “tube” is a classic technique you can use again and again for other baskets as well as bags, boxes, and totes. The keys to success include careful measuring and marking upfront, sewing each side independently during construction, and freeing up the seam allowance in each corner of the tube to allow it to bend or “ease” to fit the base. 

Good news, these baskets have both an exterior box and a lining box, so you get to practice your base insertion twice! The two boxes slip together when complete and an upper line of edgestitching finishes the job. As mentioned, we used the Janome Sliding Guide presser foot. Other options are the Janome Border Guide foot, the Edge Guide foot, the Bi-Level foot, and Clear View Quilting Foot and Guide set. The idea is to get as close to the edge as possible – ⅛” is a good goal. 

Our thanks to Janome America for their support of this project and many of our other popular projects. If you’re shopping for an entry level machine for yourself or someone you’re teaching to sew, visit a local dealer for an in-person test stitch on the Janome Loft 100 or any number of the frustration-free Janome machines. To find out more, visit their website, and follow them on social media.

The Large Basket finishes at approximately 8½” high with a 7½” square base. The Medium Basket finishes at approximately 7¼” high with a 5¼” square base. The Small Basket finishes at approximately 5¾” high with a 5¼” square base. The foldover cuff is adjustable on all the baskets so you can get the finished height needed for your plant pot or other contents.

Sewing Tools You Need  

• Sewing Machine and standard presser foot
• Jeans/Denim needle; optional for working with the combination quilting cotton and canvas layers; we were able to use a standard universal needle throughout our samples thanks to the power of our Janome studio machine: the Loft 100 – whatever your choice, do start with a new needle
• Sliding Guide Foot; optional for the final topstitching around the top of each basket. Another good Janome presser foot option we used is the Border Guide foot. Both of these presser feet are available in the appropriate 7mm width for the type of entry level machine we chose – check your machine’s manual for other precision stitching options

Fabric and Other Supplies

• Each basket requires a minimum of ¼ yard EACH for the exterior and the lining. If you have a fabric you wish to fussy cut, get ⅜ yard to be safe; we used quilting cotton for our exteriors and a matching lightweight canvas for all the lining panels – our exterior fabric is from the Linear collection By Rashida Coleman Hale for Ruby Start Society: Caves in Saddle (small), Bacon or Pasta in Cayenne (Medium), and Gardening in Cactus (Large), our canvas is Big Sur Canvas in Ivory from Robert Kaufman
• ¼ yard of ultra heavyweight interfacing for the base panel; this amount is enough to cut one base panel in each basket size – see the cutting notes below to determine exactly what you may need for your project – we used Pellon Peltex 
• All purpose thread to match fabric
• See-through ruler
• Measuring tape
• Fabric pen or pencil
• Seam gauge
• Seam ripper
• Scissors
• Rotary cutter and mat
• Iron and ironing board
• Pressing cloth; optional but best for adhering the heavyweight interfacing
• Straight pins

Getting Started

NOTES REGARDING HOW WE SIZED TO FIT OUR POTS

By reviewing our detailed drawings, you can adjust your cuts if you’d like a different fit for your pots/contents. We did quite a bit of shopping at local garden centers and found these plastic pot shapes to be the most common. Click on the drawing to open a larger view. 

Large Basket (finishes at approximately 8½” high – prior to foldover – with a 7½” square base)

1. From BOTH your exterior and lining fabrics, cut the following:
   ONE 31” wide x 9½” high rectangle for the side panel
   ONE 8½” x 8½” square for the base
2. From the heavyweight interfacing, cut ONE 7½” x 7½” square for the base

Medium Basket (finishes at approximately 7¼” high – prior to foldover – with a 5¼” square base)

1. From BOTH your exterior and lining fabrics, cut the following:
   ONE 22” wide x 8¼” high rectangle for the side panel
   ONE 6¼” x 6¼” square for the base
2. From the heavyweight interfacing, cut ONE 5¼” x 5¼” square for the base

Small Basket (finishes at approximately 5¾” high – prior to foldover – with a 5¼” square base)

1. From BOTH your exterior and lining fabrics, cut the following:
   ONE 22” wide x 6¾” high rectangle for the side panel
   ONE 6¼” x 6¼” square for the base
2. From the heavyweight interfacing, cut ONE 5¼” x 5¼” square for the base

You should have FIVE pieces for each basket.

At Your Sewing Machine & Ironing Board

NOTE: We are showing the steps below for the Medium basket. All the baskets are constructed in the exact same manner.

Fuse and mark the base panels

1. Find the exterior base panel and the heavyweight interfacing panel. 
2. Center the interfacing on the wrong side of the fabric panel. There should be ½” of fabric extending beyond the interfacing on all sides.
   
3. Following manufacturer’s instructions, fuse the interfacing panel in place. Heavier fusible interfacing can sometimes take extra heat and pressure to get a really good bond. We recommend using a pressing cloth.
   
4. Use your ruler to draw a small box in each corner. This box should be the same size as your seam allowance. Our seam allowance is ½” – so the box should be ½”.
   
5. These boxes in each corner mark will you will start and stop each side seam.
   
6. Measure to find the exact center along each side of the base panel. You can also simply fold the panel in half and press the fold to set a crease. Use an iron or just your fingers; you need only a light crease. Do this in one direction and then in the opposite direction to find the center on each side. 
7. Use your fabric pen or pencil to place a mark at each of center point.
   
8. Repeat all the marking steps on the LINING base panel. Remember, this panel does NOT have any interfacing. Set aside the lining base panel.

Prepare the main panels 

1. Find the main exterior panel and the main lining panel. 
2. Fold each panel right sides together, aligning the short sides, in the case of our medium basket, this meant aligning the 7¼” sides. Pin in place.
   
3. Using a ½” seam allowance, stitch this short seam on both the exterior and the lining, forming a “tube.”
   
4. Roll this seam allowance to exact center and press it open and flat.
   
5. Just like on the base panel above, your goal is to find an exact center point for each of the four finished sides on your tube. Think about it like the four points of a compass: North, South, East, and West. The seam itself is ONE point: South as it will be at the back of the basket. 
6. Find your marking tool and mark the center point directly under the flattened seam allowance: North – what will be the front of the Basket. 
7. With the tube still flattened in this position, move the iron to press the outer folds. These crease lines are the exact center points of the final two sides of the eventual box: East and West. Highlight these crease lines with your fabric pen or pencil.
8. All this marking is happening on the BOTTOM raw edge of the tube.
9. Along what will become the TOP of your basket, fold back the raw edge ½” all around.
   NOTE: If you have a random motif, simply pick top and bottom, but if you have a directional motif, as was the case on both our small and large baskets, you have a definite top and bottom.
   
10. Set aside the lining. 

Insert the base panel 

1. Turn the tube wrong side out. Place the first side of the base panel right sides together with the first side of the tube, matching up all your centering marks – the marked points and the crease lines. We are starting with the back side, the side with the seam. Pin in place.
   
2. Using the drawn box as your guide, start your seam at the corner of the box. Lock your stitch.
   
3. Using a ½” seam allowance, stitch to the opposite marked corner, stoping at the corner of the box. Lock your stitch.
   
4. Remove the project from under the needle. 
5. In order to create the flattest base possible, you need to clip into each corner of the tube (not the base). Snip into the corner at a depth of about ⅜”.
   
6. You are clipping right up to but not through your stitching line. This frees up the fabric so it can bend or “ease” around the corner.
   
7. Align the base panel to the tube for the next side to be stitched. You can stitch the back, then the front, then the sides, or simply go around clockwise: back, side, front, side. This was our choice.
   NOTE: Always work with the base panel facing up so you can see your markings. Stitch one side at a time, starting and stopping at the marked corners.
   
8. Here is what the finished basket looks like from the tube side. If your fabric is apt to ravel, you can place a dot of seam sealant at each corner.
   
9. And here what the finished basket looks like from the base panel side.
   
10. All your center point markings should be nicely aligned, so the base will sit straight and true.
    
11. Repeat all these steps to insert the lining base panel into the lining tube.
    

Assemble and topstitch

1. Turn the exterior right side out. Keep the lining wrong side out. 
2. Slip the lining inside the exterior so the two layers are now wrong sides together. Adjust as needed so the base panels are nice and flat against one another and the four corners are aligned.
   
3. The top pre-folded edges of the exterior and the lining should be flush, but roll them as needed so they line up perfectly. Pin in place.
   
4. Re-thread to best match your fabric in the top and bobbin.
5. Set for a slightly longer straight stitch. 
6. Choose your favorite presser foot for edgestitching. You want this final seam to quite close to the top folded edges. 
7. We used the Janome Sliding Guide foot, which allowed us to custom-set our distance.
   
8. Using this foot, we stitched with the quilting cotton on top and the canvas on the bottom, which meant we re-threaded with thread to best match the exterior fabric on top and to best match the lining in the bobbin.
   
9. Another option is the Janome Border Guide foot.
   
10. If you used canvas as a lining as we did, we recommend topstitching with the canvas facing up. The quilting cotton is much lighter with more of a tendency to stretch, so it is often better at the bottom – closest to the feed dogs. With this configuration, we made sure we had thread to best match the lining in the top and to best match the exterior in the bobbin.
    
11. Finally, thread a hand needle and a small hand tack at each corner to help hold the lining in place.
    
12. You need just a couple of stitches, and it is easy to hide them within the base panel seam allowance.
    

Project Design: Anne Adams
Sample Creation: Debbie Guild