God bless you! Previously, I wrote up some simple instructions for making your own diy fabric basket liner for a rectangle basket that had straight sides and no handles to get in the way. It’s the easiest basket liner you can sew!
But most wicker baskets have sides that flair outward at the top, and a lot of really cute baskets have handles, so in this article, I’ll walk you through the steps to make your own basket liner for those kinds of baskets as well!
First, see the pretty spring fabric I used for my latest basket liner sewing project. I think this basket liner turned out so cute, I’ll probably make some variations for summer and fall.
It’s so pretty! I picked up the basket for $2 at a garage sale. It’s sturdy enough to use, but it is showing signs of wear, so the fabric liner spruces it up quite nicely.
Following some simple steps that I’ve outlined below will allow you to make your own pretty basket liner for spring. This tutorial specifically outlines the process for lining a square or rectangle basket that flairs outward at the top (which is most of them, it seems). My basket has handles, so I used a trick from my (limited) experience making purses with zipper pockets. The finished look is neat and tidy, befitting a good-looking basket like this one.
If your basket has handles like mine, simply follow the steps below. If not, just skip those steps and continue with the other instructions.
First step: Measure your basket
For this step, you’ll need a tape measure or ruler. (The measuring tape is more flexible, making it easier to work with, but you can use a ruler if that’s all you have.)
Start by measuring the inside dimensions of the basket bottom. My basket (the one pictured) is 10.5″ x 6.5″
So this also tells me the width of the sides at the bottom. The long side will be 10.5″ wide at the bottom and the short side of the basket will be 6.5″ wide at the bottom.
But if your basket is wider at the top than it is at the bottom, you’ll also need to measure the top of each side. As you can see here, the long side of my basket measures 14″ at the top, and the short side top measures 10.25.
Next, measure the height of the sides. Usually all four sides will be the same height. Here, mine is 4.25″ high from the inside bottom.
Make your “pattern”
Now that you have the basket’s actual measurements, you can sketch out the fabric pieces you need to cut out. For my pattern, I added a generous half-inch seam allowance to the bottom and sides. This gives me plenty room to make adjustments later if needed. To the height, I added a few extra inches for the hem, overhang, and the lip of the basket.
It helps to sketch out a little diagram for yourself that you can refer to while you’re cutting. I just use notebook paper and my erasable pen. (I love my Frixion heat-erasable pens for marking on fabric as well as making my sketches. Obviously, you don’t want to use it for anything that needs to be permanent.)
The flaired sides will mean that the final shapes of your side pieces will be trapezoids. Never fear! There’s a simple, no-fail way to cut these.
How to cut the side pieces.
First, cut out your fabric rectangles using the larger width measurement and the height measurement. For my basket, I would cut the two long sides at 15 x 8.
Remember the old adage, “Measure twice, cut once.” It helps to have your cut list next to you and refer to it frequently as you cut your pieces.
Next, place the fabric in front of you with the width at the top; fold the right side of the fabric over to meet the left. (The height is still the same, but now the width of your fabric has been halved.)
At the bottom of the fabric piece, measure over half the measurement you chose for the bottom of the long side. In my case, half of 11.5″ was 5.75″
Angle your quilting ruler or other straight edge from the mark you made at the bottom of the fabric up to the point at the top.
Cut the fabric.
Continue until all four side pieces are cut.
Also cut out the bottom piece, which should just be a straightforward rectangle.
Cut the holes for the handles
If your basket doesn’t have handles, you can skip these steps.
Measure the width of the handle.
Measure from the bottom of the basket up to about where the handle is at the top.
Lay out the fabric piece for the side that has handles. On my basket, it’s the short side that has the handles. Measure up whatever you gave yourself for a seam allowance (I gave myself a half-inch). Add the measurement you took from the inside bottom to the basket handle. Make a small mark at that point.
Using a rectangle of scrap fabric, draw a rectangle the width and height of your handle. Carefully center the rectangle you drew on top of the fabric, using the mark you made earlier to line it up correctly. Lay the scrap fabric right sides together with the pretty basket lining fabric. Pin in place.
Sew all around the rectangle, through both your scrap piece of fabric and your pretty fabric. Again, the two pieces of fabric should be right-sides together.
Carefully clip down the center of your rectangle and into the four corners, as shown.
Turn the scrap fabric through to the other side and iron in place. You’ll have a neat and tidy seam all the way around the opening for the basket handle.
Sew side pieces together
Now it’s time to sew (finally)! Lay out your side pieces, alternating long, short, long, short.
Lay a short piece and a long piece right sides together, then stitch, using a half-inch seam allowance. Repeat this process until you have sewn all of the pieces together, including the last two sides (which closes the loop).
Now, line up the long side of the bottom piece with one of the long side pieces, right sides together. It really helps if you pin these pieces together once you get them lined up nicely.
Stitch down the edge, using a half-inch seam allowance, but start and stop one half inch from each end.
That half-inch gap on either end will allow you to turn the corner and line up the next side of the bottom.
If you forget to leave a half-inch opening (it happens), you’ll try to turn the corner and your fabric will twist like in the first picture. Fix it with your handy seam ripper!
When you’re sewing the bottom to the sides, you’ll have three layers to line up in the corners. See the picture for an example of how you can get everything to lay flat before you sew your seams.
Once you have sewed on the bottom piece, you can test fit the liner in the basket. Now is the time to make any necessary adjustments to the fit. Part of the reason we are doing the half-inch seam allowance is to give room to let out the seams a little bit if the fit is too tight somewhere. Just pull out your seam ripper and make adjustments.
When everything fits the way you want it, you can hem the basket liner. This is the final step – get excited! I use my iron to help me hem: fold over half an inch of fabric on the edge, press, then fold it once more for a double hem. Press again and bring the basket liner back to the sewing machine.
Line up your presser foot in a place where you can keep your hem line looking consistent. On my presser foot, the interior edge of the presser foot lined up perfectly with the folded edge of my hem. I was able to follow that line with my sewing so the whole thing looks nice and even.
My finished hem line looks nice and even all around, but there is something I will do differently with the next one (if I remember).
Top stitching like this usually looks just a bit nicer when slightly lengthened. I hemmed the basket liner with my sewing machine’s default 2.5 stitch length. I think it would look just a tiny bit nicer with a 3 or 3.5.
Ta-da! The finished pretty fabric basket liner, ready for spring decorating!
I’m so pleased with how the fabric liner elevates the look of this humble white wicker basket. The flaired sides and handles made this kind of a custom sewing project, but it was still easy! I think a confident beginner could do it. It doesn’t require any specialized sewing tools.
More fun & easy sewing projects:
- Easy DIY Basket Liner Sewing Projects
- Easy Kitchenaid bowl cover sewing project
- How to sew a travel size tissue holder
- Sew pretty fabric strawberry bowl fillers
- Easy DIY craft/sew: spring fabric carrots
- Fall leaf coaster sewing pattern
Leave a Reply