I am a last minute kind of person, yesterday (Good Friday) I suddenly decided that it would be great to have a look at how to make Easter easter baskets. I woke in the wee hours thinking of how to do this. I decided that I would like to sew quilted bags for the children to use. I looked at a few links from Pinterest. The best and most comprehensive was this post on Threading My Way. Her instructions are really easy to follow. I didn’t bother to convert her measurements in inches to cm’s and decided to make up my own size (mistake). Yesterday the 1st bag which I made for Fjord was a rediculous shape, very shallow and very long (wide), perfect for a cricket bat, but not much else. The 2nd was better, I trimmed off a lot and Acacia was happy with hers, but I wasn’t and felt that the easter basket project was a flop.
Once again I lay awake for ages, remembering that Mum had given me some printing canvas (used to print photos on canvas at PrintWild). A new idea formed, I would get the children to paint their own pictures on the bags. You can use pretty much any fabric but I think it’s ideal if the outside of the bag is made with a relatively heavy fabric, the printing canvas was actually really stiff and hard to work with.
The children were so excited and loved painting their pictures.
You can follow the intructions on Threading My Way but here are mine too, much less seamstress like (read as unprofessional). This really is a fun project and I will be making many more fabric bags in the future now that I have half a clue what I’m doing. If you make a bag or bags I would love to see the fruits of your labour in the comments block below.
These are the dimensions which I used
70cm x 35cm (this is the size rectangle to cut), cut one of each outer fabric, lining and batting (quilt stuff)
70cm is the depth of both sides front and back, and the base, When made up the height of the bag is 31cm. 35cm is the width across from seam to seam. This is with no seam allowances
My measurements were ruled by the size of the canvas which I had on hand, when I want to make a similar bag again I will probably cut them about 67cm x 40cm.
1. I like to get fiddly bits out of the way so started with the handles. When I made the 1st baskets I did 2 handles, one on each side and cut them 47 cm x 12 cm, the batting 47 cm x 5.5 cm. For the canvas baskets made with the dimensions above I only did 1 handle which was 60 cm x 12 cm (batting 5.5 cm). With right sides together and batting against wrong side facing up, stitch side seam along length. Using a safety pin pull right side to outside. Stitch along both sides on outside.
2. Stitch batting to wrong side of lining along long sides to h0ld in place. With right sides together stitch side seams.
3. Stitch side seams of outer fabric with right sides together.
4. Do this step seperately with both lining and batting piece and the outer fabric piece. With right sides together fold the fabric so that the seam is down the centre with a point on top. For this size bag I marked 5 cm down from the top point and drew a line across. Stitch along the line and cut off.
5. With right sides of outer fabric and lining together pin in place, position the handles where you want them, they must be between the right sides of lining and outer fabric. Stitch, leaving a gap big enough to pull the lining through to the inside of the bag.
6. Turn lining to inside of bag and stitch along the top on the outside. When you get to the section which was unstitched turn edges in and stitch in place.
These Easter Bags / Baskets will be used in years to come and in between they can be used as general carry bags for swimming stuff, toys or over night clothes if they sleep away for a night.
Thanks so much for sending me the link to your Easter baskets. They look fabulous with the kids’ paintings… great idea. I bet the kids love them, too.
They do, thank you, just had lots of fun on their Easter Hunt with them. They were probably twice as big as they needed to be but now a useful size
The baskets are adorable! What a great keepsake and wonderful memory for your children!
Thank you Luci