Fabric Buckets 2: Egg Baskets for the Boys

Tomorrow is the big egg hunt. Hopefully the weather dries up by tomorrow morning, since right now I can hear a pitter patter on our windows.

I like the idea of fabric egg baskets because they are unbreakable and reusable. Even though your local dollar store will have any number of super cute baskets for quick sale, nothing says "mommy loves you and wants to torture you by making you use her homemade crap" than a monogrammed egg basket.

I know that the colours are not the best match and I could've chosen a more seasonal print, but this is what happens to mommy's own children after she buys special fabrics to make gifts for other kids - mommy's kids get crazily patterned, funkily mismatched franken-projects made from the scraps :)

I used the same basic tutorial from RicRac that I blogged about earlier in my post, "Fabric Buckets for a Baby Boy". I just changed the dimensions so that my resulting baskets would be larger with an oval  (rather than circular) base.

First, I decided how large I wanted the base to be and cut that out of the last bits of quilted batting I had left in my scrap pile. (You'll also need to replicate this shape onto your outer fabric and lining fabric.)

I chose to only use batting in the base for stability. I opted for interfacing only for the sides of the basket to make them more flexible and lightweight.

Then I measured around the circumference of the base to determine how long the strip of fabric that wraps around the base (to form the sides of the basket) should be.

Added an inch for seam allowance and cut a strip of fabric that was 28 inches long and 8 inches tall.  I also cut the same strip from my lining fabric and some medium weight interfacing. (I would have used heavy weight if I'd had any, but the interfacing pickings are getting slim in my stash.)

These strips are actually twice the height because I was preparing to make two identical baskets.

Also wanted to add a cut-window with my boys' initials. So after ironing on the interfacing, I marked a egg shaped window onto the back of my interfaced flower (outer) fabric 8 inches in from one of the short edges. I cut out a slightly larger yellow egg (to be seen inside the window) and a slightly larger blue egg (to line the window).

Sewed the blue egg onto my window, right sides facing, using the pencilled on egg shape as my stitching guide.

Cut out the window leaving a small seam allowance and clipped all around the seam allowance.

Turned over to the other side and pulled the blue lining fabric through the window and ironed it all down.

Cut out one son's initial and appliqued it onto the yellow egg.

Placed the yellow egg in my open window and sewed it in.

From here on out you would basically follow the instructions from the RicRac tutorial, or if you've ever made a lined bag before you could probably just go on by instinct.

This is one of the few times you'll catch me pinning. I'm notorious for short cuts, and pinning and unpinning is definitely a corner I cut often... except when easing in curved seams. Learned the hard way that this is one short cut you should not take!

And for those who wonder about sewing that death trap of pins. It IS as awkward as it looks, although today's buckets were made a lot easier by virtue of their large size and longer curves.

Here is the lining and outer bucket both individually sewn up (except for a small turning hole in the lining layer, more on that next). Minimally pinned and ready to be attached together.

All attached and ready to be turned the right-way-out through my little hole. Just have to reach in the hole and grab hold of the outer bag...

... start pulling...

And voila! Your bucket is revealed!

Hand or machine sew shut that turning hole. (Machine sewn, of course for lazy me!) Tuck the lining in, iron it down, and sew around the top edge to keep it all in place. Then add some handles and the kids are ready for the mad-grab!