Saturday, July 9, 2011

free piecing study - july - block 2 - basket

for our second block of july, we will be making baskets. i first saw these in the Freddy & Gwen Collaborate Again book. there are some great basket quilts out there such as this and this.


042

first cut a background piece at least an inch longer and higher. then cut a basket shape and a handle piece which is cut on the bias. that handle i cut turned out to be too wide to manage. i suggest cutting it about 1" to 1.5" so it is easier to work with.


046

put the basket on the background piece and cut to fit the basket. piece the basket fabric into that piece.


047

for the handle, fold the edges to the center and press. no need to be super precise.


048

the top piece on my ironing board is the first handle i cut. because it was so wide, i couldn't get it to shape right. the second handle i cut was much narrower. to get the shape, iron and pull and iron and shape and iron and pull. keep manipulating it until you get the shape you want for the handle. but remember, it needs to lie flat with no wrinkles and puckers. i held down one edge with the iron and pulled and turned the piece with my other hand moving the iron further and further and pulling and shaping at the same time with the other hand. sorry. it's hard to explain.


050

lay the handle on the background and see if it "fits" the basket. once you are happy with the shape, pin [i know, i almost never pin] the handle onto the background and machine applique the handle down.


055

trim the two background pieces and sew together. done!

two tips: first, the wider your basket, the easier it will be to fit the handle. second, a narrower handle piece is easier to manipulate that a wider one.

here are a few baskets i made a couple of years ago for a bee:

8two8 - lynn

8two8 - lynn

remember you can wonk it up by changing the angles on the body of the basket and by shaping the handle asymmetrically.

3 comments:

Julie said...

Sarah
You rock!!! I was hoping that the baskets would be one of the blocks that we made.
thanks so much
Julie

Clare said...

I've always been a bit wary of basket quilts as I don't trust myself with the handle part. Thanks for the excellent tutorial.

Molly said...

Thanks-very straightforward. And thanks for linking to my little baskets quilt!