I met Rob about two years ago. He liked a bunch of my pillows from my Etsy shop and when I realized he had a shop with Etsy also and it was located in Minnesota, I started up a conversation with him.

He not only has a shop with Etsy, he has a very successful shop named Rob’s Rustics 

Rob and his family live in Minnesota, within twenty minutes of me. The other day I stopped over to buy some bank bags. I’ll tell you about the bank bags at another time. Anywho, as Rob was showing me some of the new items he will be listing in his shop, this metal industrial basket grabbed my attention.

It is a rustic, authentic egg basket with short metal handles and a shiny label. Love at first sight!

 

I can see this basket beside a fireplace with kindling in it, or beside a sofa holding blankets or even as a magazine rack.  So many options.

But what I really wanted to do was put a liner in it so it could be used in an office or laundry room or even a bathroom. Rob graciously let me bring it home to create something.

I knew I wanted to keep a rustic feel for the liner, so I chose a creamy thick cotton canvas fabric. I measured the basket and then drew an exact pattern that would make any architect proud.  #notsomuch

But in all honesty, that is how all my handmade patterns look.  It makes sense to me. 😉

Moving on. I then cut the cotton canvas fabric from my pattern, adding an inch on each side for seams.

Ready for another great photo? Here is the fabric laid out just like my pattern.

Amazing, right? Maybe I need to think about writing a book and title it, Pattern Making for Dummies 🙂

Next step was to sew it together, making a cloth basket. I sewed all the sides to the bottom and then the sides to form the corners.

I decided to leave the pretty seams on the inside of the basket and  finish the outside with my serger to continue with the rustic vibe.

For whatever reason this picture wants to be sides ways, but you get the idea of the finished serged edge.

The last step was to use my seam ripper to make some slits for the rope to be inserted through so the liner stays up inside the basket.

I then simply cut some six inch cotton rope pieces, stuck them through the holes and tied them into a knot.

Basket liner or no basket liner? Hmmmm…..