DIY Fabric Basket Sewing Tutorial

How to Sew Fabric Storage Basket. Sew Your Own Fabric Laundry Basket. How to Make a Round Fabric Basket. Free Sewing Tutorial. 

Today, I'm sharing the promised tutorial on making a fabric basket with Decovil. Decovil is an iron-on interfacing with a leather-like feel that gives fabric excellent stability and strength. It's perfect for large, sturdy fabric baskets.  

However, it does require a slightly different approach. In this tutorial, I'll show you how to sew your own practical fabric basket using Decovil, avoiding the complicated process of turning it inside out. Let's get started!

You will need:

- 40cm x 140cm cotton fabric for the outside of your basket
- 40cm x 140cm cotton fabric for the inside of your basket
- 10cm x 110cm cotton fabric for the rim of your basket
- 90cm webbing, 3cm wide
- 1m Decovil Light from Freudenberg
- 1m Vlieseline H630 or preferably 640 from Freudenberg
- A strip of H250 from Freudenberg

Additionally, you will need fabric scissors, regular scissors, a pen, a ruler, tailor's chalk, a compass, and very importantly, an iron and a sewing machine ;-)

Let's begin! Cut a rectangle measuring 36 x 100 cm from the Decovil. Then, using a compass, draw a circle with a radius of 16 cm to create the base. Cut another 7 x 100 cm strip of Vlieseline H250 for the facing. If you need more than the length you need, you can piece the Vlieseline strip together, as it only has one adhesive backing. Work as precisely as possible, as these are our cutting pieces!

Now we iron the Decovil pattern pieces onto our outer fabric according to the instructions. It's best to place a damp cotton cloth between the Decovil and the iron, and after ironing, be sure to let it cool flat for 30 minutes.

Have the Decovil and fabric bonded well across the entire surface? Great! Then let's continue. Now, mark a 1cm seam allowance around the ironed-on Decovil and then cut out the pieces.

We now do the same with our backing strip made of Vlieseline H250...

Now we just need to place our two Decovil-coated pattern pieces, including seam allowance, onto the fabric for the inside of the basket and cut them out.

We proceed in the same way with the iron-on volume fleece H630/640. Place the two pieces you just cut out for the inside of the basket onto the fleece and cut them out.

Now we have a large rectangle and a base circle covered with Devovil for the outside of the basket, a large rectangle and a base circle covered with Vlieseline H630/640, the facing covered with Vlieseline H250 (which I folded over lengthwise in the middle here), and two 45cm long pieces of webbing. Onward!

Now take the large rectangle for the basket's inner lining and fold it in half. Starting at the fold, measure and make marks at 20cm and 30cm. The pin in between simply indicates the center. Attach the webbing to the outer edge of these marks, to the left and right of the pins. Repeat this process for the second handle.

We secure each strap with a seam on the seam allowance of the basket's inner part.

Then we place all rectangular parts (inner basket part, outer basket part and lining strip) right sides together and close the parts to form a ring.

This shows who did a thorough job ;-) The seam runs along the Decovil, but doesn't pierce it!

Next, we divide the rings into quarters at the top and bottom edges using pins.

We do the same with both base circles. We fold the lining strip lengthwise, wrong sides together, and then cut it into quarters. This helps us assemble the pieces.

So now we have two rings quartered at the top and bottom edges with pins, two quartered base circles and one quartered covering strip.

We now insert the outer base into the ring of the outer basket at the four marked points. We do the same with the inner basket!

Now we'll sew a basket from the base circle and the ring. Don't worry! We can do it! There's a trick to sewing a circle and a straight ring together: we sew the ring onto the circle, not the other way around!  

Precise, slow sewing pays off here. When sewing the outer basket, the seam again only runs along the Decovil; it doesn't pierce it. Repeat this with the inner basket. Trim the seam allowances on the bottom of the basket.

The base circles are in. We dab the sweat from our brows and pat ourselves on the back! Now the outer basket needs to be turned over. It's so stiff because of the Decovil, unfortunately, the only option is to close our eyes and hope that we've secured the Decovil well across the entire surface.

Done! Now we make a sandwich. We insert the inner basket into the outer basket according to the quarter markings, and then attach the filling ring to the inner basket in the same way.

Outer basket, inner basket with strap loops, securing ring. This is how it should look when assembled. You can, of course, add more pins to secure it.

Then the whole stubborn, stiff thing has to go under your sewing machine. We sew the pinned top edge all the way around.

The fabric basket is almost finished! We fold up the facing strip and then fold it onto the outside of the basket. This way, the seams disappear under the facing strip.

We topstitch the facing strip all the way around the bottom edge, close to the edge, and then it's done!

I hope you've made it this far? :O) Our fabric basket is finished and waiting to be used as a stair basket, laundry hamper, toy basket, or crochet storage container :-)