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Sew a Fabric Gift Basket

With Spring just around the corner, I thought I’d share how to sew a fabric gift basket. These homemade baskets make great gifts for all different occasions, holidays, and themes! I sew these DIY fabric baskets for everything from baby showers to teachers’ gifts and more. Add machine embroidery for a nice custom touch. Use these homemade fabric baskets for custom storage bins as well! Get the tutorial below on how to sew your very own fabric gift basket.

Supplies:

  • FS60X
  • NV180 was used for the embroidery
  • 1 yd. cotton fabric exterior
  • 1 yd. cotton fabric liner
  • 1-2 yds. fusible fleece
  • General sewing/cutting supplies

Cutting:

Exterior: 2 pieces that measure 17” (wide) x  13” long

Liner:  2 pieces that measure 17 x 13”

Fusible Fleece: 4 pieces that measure 17 x 13”

Strap: 1 piece 17 x 6”

Fusible Fleece: 17 x 6”

For the 2 piece (Blue Checkered)

Exterior: Top section: 17 x 3 x  ¾”

Exterior: Bottom section:  17 x 10 ¼”

The rest of the pieces measure the same as above.

Fuse the fusible fleece to the wrong side of all pieces.

Use a grid ruler and mark off a 3” square at the bottom corners for both exterior and liner and cut.

Place exterior and liner pieces right sides together. Stitch the sides and bottoms with a 1/2” seam allowance.

For the corners: With right sides together, connect the seam so it’s centered to the other side and clip or pin.

Stitch together and repeat for all corners. (1/2” seam allowance).

The bottom should look like this when complete.

Now let’s sew the handle.

Fuse the fleece to the wrong side.

Fold the sides into the center and press.

Fold in half so the edges are together and press.

Top stitch down both sides (about 1/8” from the edge).

Find the center front and center back  of the basket and mark. Place the handle right sides together with the basket over those marks and sew (1/4” seam allowance).

Flip the basket so right sides are out including the handle.

Place the basket into the liner so the right sides are together. Attach seams to seams and pin or clip all the way around.

Sew ½” seam allowance all the way around the edge leaving a 3” opening just an inch off one of the handles. This will be the opening to flip right sides outs.

Flip right sides out through the opening.

Press the basket. Top stitch with a 3.0 stitch length and just off the edge (1/8” or so) around the top edge of the basket, closing the opening as well.

Now fill your homemade gift basket with all sorts of goodies. I sew these fabric baskets for gifts, but they’re also great to use as homemade storage bins. You can add some machine embroidery to customize them. For the blue checkered basket, I embroidered the name on the top section. You can use this tutorial here for that portion. I also embroidered a sash to tie around the floral basket. Make these for all different occasions: I love sewing them for party favors, Mother’s Day gifts, and more. Use your imagination and take your homemade gift baskets to the next level of fun.

This article has been republished from Brother Sews USA.

The original article can be seen here: http://blog.brothersews.com/projects/sew-a-fabric-easter-basket/ 

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Quick Tip: Exploring Options for Elongation Stitches

Elongation style stitches are much more fun than their rather technical name implies. The term elongation simply means that patterns in this category of decorative stitches can be re-sized in a range from 1 to 5. As they are re-sized, the pattern or shape of the stitch is maintained. Examples in the photo above show patterns stitched out in all the different sizes. Although the size varies, the density remains the same and the general shape of the stitch does as well. Depending on the size and the stitch selected, different sizes can produce interesting variations. In addition, changing the length of the stitch makes the pattern denser but also shortens the length of the pattern. One of my favorite tricks is to select a larger size pattern and then shorten the stitch length. This results in a fuller looking stitch that is a bit shorter than the original pattern. See examples of sizes below in Figure #1b:

Figure #1b

You’ll find these 7mm satin style elongation stitches built into many Brother machine models. They’re located in the Character/Decorative stitch menu of the machine. See examples of stitch menus below in Figure #2a and #2b:

Figure #2a
Figure #2b

The size key allows for elongating the stitch in a range from 1 to 5.

Some machine models include an additional feature for creating step stitch patterns. This technique allows for moving stitch patterns left and right to sew wide patterns with multi-directional stitching. See Figure#3 below:

Figure #3

Remember to change to presser foot “N” when sewing these decorative stitches. This foot has a groove on the underside, so it flows easily across bulky satin stitches. See Figure #4.

Figure #4

It’s also important to be sure fabric is firm and well stabilized before sewing these decorative stitches. A layer of tear-away stabilizer is a good choice for many situations. Be sure to test stitches on scraps before sewing your actual project. Have fun experimenting with elongation stitches, trying different sizes, patterns, and combinations. Enjoy!

This article has been republished from Brother Sews USA. The original article can be seen here: http://blog.brothersews.com/tips-tricks/elongation-stitches/

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Get Creative with a Customized Cell Phone Case

Need a little pizazz? Time to get busy and dial in your own cool style with a customized cell phone case!

Supplies:

Note: Smartphone sizes change so quickly, so we recommend basing measurements to the size of your
preferred phone model. This sleeve is supposed to fit very snugly to keep the phone from falling out. If you want to make it larger so it does not fit so tightly (or to accommodate a larger phone in the future), you could add a tab closure to the top.

Steps:

1. Choose 3 different types of fabric—one will serve as the main pocket of your phone case and the 2 layers will be for your cards and earbuds. You will want to cut the main pocket to be twice as wide as your phone (with case if you keep it in a case) plus about 2-3 inches. For example, the phone we used here is 2.5 inches wide, so we cut the fabric to be 8-9 inches wide. The other 2 pocket layers will be 2-3 inches plus your phone size.

2. Cut 3 piece of felt the same size as your phone and pin one to the back of each piece of fabric, with the long edges pinned over. This will add an extra layer of protection.

3. For what will be the 2 smaller front pieces, fold the 2 layers on a diagonal and sew along the top edges. Keep the larger back piece unfolded for now.

4. Sew the two front-pieces along each side at one edge of the back piece. Then, fold over the back piece to
cover the entire case.

5. Sew along the bottom and sides, then cut off any extra fabric from the sides after you’re finished sewing. Turn inside out to reveal!

6. Grab your cards, phone and earbuds. You’re ready to go!