Folding Mini Basket Review

Need a quick and easy mini basket for storage, travel or gift giving? There are plenty of options. This is a SewCanShe folding mini basket review.

The link to the SewCanShe free PDF tutorial (with optional paid PDF):

Mini Baskets That Fold

This project is for personal use only.

For the purposes of my review, I’m going to summarize the basic steps, tell you what I did differently (if anything) and share my general thoughts about sewing the project.

Introduction

Fabric baskets come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Caroline Fairbanks-Critchfield has tutorials for several styles of baskets on her SewCanShe.com website. I read her folding basket posts and immediately thought of several uses for them. This reversible mini basket is 4 inches wide by 6 inches high by 3 inches deep (10 cm x 15 cm x 7.6 cm) and can be folded flat when not in use. Caroline has also published tutorials for other sizes of this folding basket.

Step 0 Gather Materials

Two fat quarters of quilting weight cotton and double sided fusible stabilizer are recommended. I used quilting weight cotton and double sided fusible foam stabilizer.

Close up of red fabric with white flowers on top of other pale fabrics — Close up of materials

Step 1 Fuse Layers

I followed the instructions for cutting rectangles from each of my fabrics and fusible foam. This was my first time using double sided fusible foam so I read the manufacturer’s instructions. They weren’t as helpful as I thought they’d be. Fortunately this tutorial provided detailed instructions and my foam-fabric sandwiches were the correct side after trimming (this tutorial makes two mini baskets).

Two overlapping fabric rectantgles — Two rectangles

Step 2 Cut Flaps

I followed the instructions to cut six flaps in each of my rectangles.

Overlapping flattened fabric boxes — Rectangles with flaps

Step 3 Shape Flaps

I followed the instructions to shape the flaps so that they could fit together. Instead of the recommend open toe foot, I used my universal presser foot. Drawing some extra guide lines on my baskets to make it easier to see where to start and stop the stitches.

Close up of universal presser foot sewing along guidelines — Sewing with a universal presser foot & extra guide lines

Step 4 Finish Basket

I used my overcast foot to finish the all the edges of my baskets and applied an no-fray product to prevent unravellng of the quilting weight cottons.

Close up of edge stitching along cream colored fabric — Close-up of edge stitching

Here are some photos of my finished folding mini baskets.

Two red floral fabric boxes with cream interiors — Matching foldable mini baskets

Cream side out fabric basket beside red side out fabric basekt — Contrasting mini baskets

Looking inside floral baskets to see contrasting interiors — Oblique view of contrasting mini baskets

Conclusion

This folding mini basket is a fat quarter friendly, beginner project. The numerous photos and well written description made it quick and easy to sew two mini baskets. Sewers who are unfamiliar with double sided fusibles will appreciate the detailed explanation regarding it’s use.

My folding mini baskets are 4 inches wide by 6 inches high by 3 inches deep (10 cm x 15 cm x 7.6 cm). I’m really pleased with how they turned out and will be making more. All kinds of small items can be contained in them. They are a great size for gift giving in either their flat or box format. Using a solid colour for one side turns them into a travel tray alternative.

Have you tried this project? Did you like this folding mini basket review? Comment below and/or Pin me for later! Subscribe so you don’t miss a post!

Tanya

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