Fabric Scrap Basket Tutorial

I thought I’d share with you how to make my fabric scrap “basket”. It’s VERY simple. I whipped out another two baskets in no time at all. Now I have all of my smaller scraps organized into small, medium and large groupings. Did I even mention I’m a Capricorn and like to be organized to a fault? No? Well if this doesn’t prove it, I don’t know what will. Go ahead, make yourself a few of these today. You’ll love it so much better than your Ziploc bags. I know I do!

Directions

1. You will need to gather your supplies. I grabbed two fat quarters (one for the interior and one for the exterior) and my sew-in interfacing. I bought this a few years ago and have no idea of it’s name. It’s like a thick paper, not as thick as card stock, but thicker than printer paper. I think it’s something like this. You could also use a fusible interfacing, Timtex or batting. I found that I really like this interfacing for the boxes. It gives it a nice shape, but is easy to work with.

2. Cut out your pieces as follows:
Exterior: 1 – 15 x 15”
Interior: 1 – 14-7/8” x 14-7/8” **
Interfacing/batting: 1 – 15 x 15”

**I like my interior to fit and not be so rumpled from too much fabric, so this is why I cut my interior slightly smaller. You could of course cut it the same size as your other two pieces.

3. Cut 4-1/2” squares from each corner of your exterior and interfacing. I stack these two together and cut each corner. It should look like a giant plus-sign when you’re finished.

If you are using fusible interfacing I suggest fusing that to your fabric before cutting.  If you are using a sew-in interfacing (as I did with my baskets) then you will want to baste the interfacing to the exterior fabric after both pieces are cut out.  Baste the interfacing to the exterior fabric around all the sides of the plus-sign.

4. Take your interior piece and fold it in half one direction and then in half the other direction, resulting in a 7-1/2” square. Lining up on the corner with no folds, cut a 4-1/2” square. Again, you should have a giant plus-sign once opened out.

Note: You could also just cut a 4-1/2” squares individually out of each corner, it just goes a bit faster folding and cutting all at once. The reason I didn’t do this with the exterior + interfacing is because of the rigidity of the interfacing I used. If your working with a softer material, or fusible interfacing, you could do this for your exterior + interfacing (or batting) pieces. This is your call.

5. Fold opposite corners of the plus-sign to each other (as pictured) and pin along outer edges. Right sides of fabric together. Stitch with a 1/4” seam allowance. Open out and repeat for the opposite direction. (See photos below for more photo explanation.)

6. You will now sew your lining in the same manner. Essentially what you’re doing is sewing your sides together by sewing the sides that were created when you cut out that 4-1/2” square from Step 3.

7. With right sides together, nestle your exterior box inside of your interior.

Note: By “right sides together” I mean to have the fabric facing out on your exterior piece, and the fabric facing in on your interior piece.