An Easter basket is a special basket used in Easter celebrations. Easter baskets are typically filled with Easter eggs, food, toys, or other gifts depending on one’s culture and family traditions. I would like to share how to make these adorable quilted fabric Easter baskets. They are easy to sew, and fun to fill with Easter treats and goodies. Perfect for kids, teens, and yes, even adults. This is a basket you can use year-round in your sewing room, kitchen or kids room to store all kinds of things. It is very versatile, and BUNNY APPROVED!
Bunny Approved
Finished Sizes:
Small Basket is approximately 6 1/2″ diameter x 5″ tall (without handle height).
Large Basket is approximately 8″ diameter x 5″ tall (without handle height).
Materials to Make a Quilted Easter Basket
Variety of 2 1/2″ strips of coordinating fabric colors. I used a Jelly Roll.
17″ (small) or 20” (large) square fabric of coordinating or contrasting fabric.
Medium Weight Fusible Pellon Interfacing 16″ (small) or 20” (large) square
Basic Sewing Supplies and Sewing Machine
Fabric Choice
Cutting Directions:
From basket coordinating fabric 2 1/2″ wide strips cut a variety of: 2 1/2″, 4″, 6″, and 8″ long pieces.
from bottom fabric, cut: one (1) 17” (small) or 20″ (large) square
from Pellon, cut: one (1) 17” (small) or 20″ (large) square
For tall handle keep 2 coordinating coordinating 2 1/2″ wide fabric strips. For the braided handle choose 6 strips of the same length at 2 1/2″ wide.
Let’s begin by cutting the fabric jelly roll 2 1/2″ strips. If each Jelly Roll strip is folded in half you should have a long enough length to cut the following:
2 – 8″ pieces (2 1/2″ x 8″)
2 – 6″ pieces (2 1/2″ x 6″)
2 – 4″ pieces (2 1/2″ x 4″)
2 – 2 1/2″ pieces (2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″)
I ended up using about 40 pieces for the small basket and 50 pieces for the large basket. I had 5 coordinating fabrics with multiple strips of each color so it was really easy to cut two strips of each color and then just set my scraps aside for another project. Essentially one strip of each fabric would have been enough, but I wanted to be able to move my pieces around so no two colors touched each other and I like having extra so this process is easier.
Don’t forget to set aside 2 strips for your handle if you are making the long quilted fabric, or 6 strips if you are making the braided handle.
Layout Directions:
Once you have all of fabric pieces cut it is time to sort them into their respective colors and sizes. I like to lay them out in front of me so that as I begin to layout the pieces of my square I can easily see how many of each square I have available.
Now it’s time to arrange our fabric pieces into our rows. For the smaller bag I used 1 of each of the four sizes per row. Marie used 1 – 8″, 1 – 6″, and 2 – 4″. This combination added that couple extra inches needed for the larger basket.
Once you have your fabric strips arranged into approximately 10 rows it is time to sew them together.
Sewing and Quilting Directions:
Use your sewing machine to sew each of the fabric pieces into multi-colored strips. Then iron the seams open. Next, sew the strips into one large square. Then iron your seams open.
Cut a piece of fusible Pellon the size of your sewn piece and iron it onto the back of your fabric following the instructions provided when you bought your Pellon.
Now that your main basket fabric is prepared with the Pellon attached, cut all into squares, including a matching size square from your contrasting fabric.
Sew with the correct sides together leaving an opening for turning. Trim the edges for a crisp seam edge. Turn the square and sew the opening closed by sewing a very small edge around the entire border of the square. Now quilt your fabric square in whatever manner you prefer. We ditch quilted our fabric square which you can see below.
After all of our beautiful and hard preparation and work it is time to sew our quilted square into a lovely basket. This is the step which makes all of our work begin to look like what we are attempting to achieve. It’s time to form our basket. This step can sometimes be scary because for many people is it hard to envision how a 2-dimensional object can be transformed into a 3-dimensional object.
We begin by deciding if we want the corner seams to be on the inside or the outside. If you want them outside fold whatever side you want to be the outside of our basket to the inside as you make a rectangle. If you want it the other way do the reverse. Then we measure 3″ up from the fold and 3″ in from the edge and mark the fabric where we will sew. Do this on both sides of your folded fabric and sew the marked fabric.
Open and fold as flat as possible and repeat on the third and fourth corner. Trim the corner angles and turn the basket inside right. Pinch the seam and with your fingers feel how far in you must sew in order to encapsulate the cut fabric inside the corner seam.
Sewing Note: Make sure as you are sewing the seam that encapsulates the cut edge that you do not sew past the edge points. If you sew all the way down (the point) then you will end up with points on the underneath of you basket and it will not lay flat on a table/shelf. It will be wobbly.
Before we start our basket handles let’s finish one last step. Let’s topstitch our basket and it’s four folded over corners to help them lay properly. This is an optional step, but I believe it adds strength to the basket. We topstitched around the top as well as the edges of the triangles.
Two Types of Handles Directions:
Let’s begin our handles. There are 2 slightly different handles. The first is a quilted handle from two strips of coordinating handle colors whereas the other uses 3 coordinating fabric strips as well as 3 strips of contrasting fabric to braid a lovely handle that is very sturdy and practical.
Let’s begin with the easy and more traditional quilted handle.
I began by cutting and fusing a 1 1/2″ pellon strip to the back and center of each fabric strip reserved for the handles. The edges were folded in and ironed. The strips were placed right sides together and both ends were sewn together and then turned so the correct sides were on the outside.
It’s time to quilt the handle together. We began by sewing a seam down the center of the strips. We then quilted down the center of each side and finally the very edge of the strips. A total of 5 quilting lines for the handle.
It is now time to sew the handle on. I pinched the side of the basket to find the center and then pinned the handle to the center on each side. I then stitched the handle to the basket making sure I sewed on the exact same seam I had used for the topstitch around the edges.
Viola a beautiful Easter Basket.
Quilted Handle
Now it’s time to sew the braided Easter Basket handle. We began by sewing six tubes. Three from our patterned fabric and three from our plain fabric. Turn the tubes inside right.
Create two sets of three tubes. The first set has 1 solid and 2 patterned tubes. The second has 1 patterned and 2 solid tubes. Sew across the top of each set. Secure the sewn end of the tubes and begin braiding each to a length of about 3 inches each.
Then combine the fabric strips to create a center braid by placing one solid and one patterned strip together and braiding them to a desired length. Then once again separate the strands into two sets of three and complete separate braids to match the length of the first split braids before they combined. Pin the ends so they do not unbraid and trim them so all ends are the same length. Hem the ends and sew them together to secure the braid.
Pin all four braided ends to the four corners of the basket and secure them by sewing them in place.
Viola a second beautiful Easter Basket.
Braided Handle
Bling
Finally, it’s time for bling.
Select the type of bling you want; Charms, Buttons, Etc. Then, sew the bling to the point for some added beauty and personalization.
2 Varieties of Quilted Easter Baskets
Baskets with Candy and Fabric Carrot Candy Bag
