Originally I was going to sew a doll pattern from a designer I hadn’t used yet but time ran away from me and lately I’ve been in a bit of a bag making binge anyway. I haven’t ventured into really advanced bag making that requires lots of hardware yet but that will hopefully happen this year since I have plans to advance in my sewing! Haha. Since a goal of mine is to majorly reorganize and purge the craft room (and well the rest of the house) I decided to make some fabric storage bins to hang in the craft room. I plan to make a few more for my daughters to use as well for both in their bedroom and in the craft room. I decided to try out a pattern by a new-to-me designer Calico Forest Designs*.
I don’t know why I don’t take out a ruler when I look at the finished sizes in the descriptions, the basket was a lot larger than I thought it would be! I think I was kind of expecting these small little pods like I’ve seen elsewhere, but this is pretty big. It will be used to store my thread, at the moment all my thread is a recycled plastic container and it’s actually hard to to get at the ones I want.
Below is the listing photo for the storage pod
The pattern sews up really quickly. I think from cut to sew it truly is a 1-hour project (I didn’t actually measure how long it took though but the sewing was quick). I did change up the construction slightly so that I left a small opening in the lining to the turn the bag out and then topstitched around the top. (The pattern suggests pressing a 1/4″ hem along the top of both lining and outer and then stitching closed at the top but that method tends to mess up at some point for me and I need to unpick. Easier for me to just to leave the opening in the lining and stitching that closed).
The only con really is that the pattern pieces don’t line up perfectly which is even mentioned in the instructions. So you may end up with a couple pieces where the fabric has a bit of a overhang on one edge like I did. I just trimmed the overhang so it wasn’t too bad. Also, this part isn’t a huge deal breaker, each page of the pattern is a separate PDF file. Obviously, they’re not a professional pattern designer so if that’s an issue for you I would look elsewhere. But if you’re ok with those smaller issues the end result is pretty good. I have only seen one other pattern similar although I didn’t check the finished size on it so I’m not sure if it’s the same really. So if you’re looking for a nice, big hanging fabric basket with a wide opening this is the pattern for you. 🙂
I would suggest using the thicker type of quilting cotton to make your baskets. I used a lightweight chambray for the liner (which made amazing shorts) and had the outer been just as lightweight the whole basket would have been extremely floppy. So either add interfacing to the outer or use a good quality quilting cotton. I used some remnant of a fabric I’ve had in my stash for a few years now, I think it’s Amy Butler fabric but I’m not sure, I didn’t have any left of the fabric with the name printed on the selvedge.
Welcome to the Breaking Ground Blog Tour 2018. This week over 20 bloggers are joining together to break new ground by trying a pattern designer that is new to them, try new techniques, new styles, or whatever way they want to push themselves. The Full Tour includes all these creatives… we hope you’ll visit us each day:
Monday March 12- mahlicadesigns, Sewing Vortex, Sewing A La Carte, Little Heart Threads, The Sewing Scientist
Tuesday March 13- Musings of A Seamstress, A Custom Clothier, Octaves of Color, Aurora Design Fabrics, Sew Altered Style
Wednesday March 14- Flaxfield Sewing, Chook n Duck, Tales of a Tester, Sewing By Ti, Sewing Vortex, Kathy’s Kwilts and More
Thursday March 15- Very Blissful, Manning the Machine, Sew and Tell Project, Musings of a Seamstress, Stitches by Laura
Friday March 16- Lulu & Celeste, Tenille’s Thread, Sewing A La Carte, The Bear and Pea Atelier, Aurora Design Fabrics, Sprouting Jube Jube, Kathy’s Kwilts and More
We’d love to see how you’re Breaking Ground this month. Share with us what you’re working on by using the hashtag #BreakingGround2018 across social media. Better yet, join the Sew Alongs & Sewing Contests facebook group to sew along with the Breaking Ground theme for the entire month of March. In the group you’ll find support and encouragement for your projects and fun themed challenges.
