How To Make A Hand-Sewn Fabric Twine Basket, With Yardage Info

Fabric twine is a good thing to make to use up fabric scraps that are large enough to cut into strips, but the question is, what to use it for? There are a lot of fabric twine project ideas for sewing machines, and I've seen people make machine sewn fabric twine baskets and bowls with it, and wrap vases with it, but I've never had much success sewing things and having them keep the right shape. I decided to try making a fabric twine rope basket with some DIY fabric twine that I had made, but I did it by hand so that I could adjust the shape if it looked like it wasn't doing what I wanted it to. This definitely takes longer than sewing it, but it also lets you adjust and adapt the shape as you're working. How to make fabric twine. You make fabric twine by twisting two strips of fabric (individually) in one direction, then wrapping them together int he other direction so that they don't unwind. So basically, you'll twist the fabric strip counterclockwise, then wrap it clockwise around another strip that's also been twisted. When the strips try to untwist, they won't be able to because of the opposite twists that you did in the winding and twisting process. If you don't want to DIY it, you can also buy pre-made fabric twine from people on Etsy. Check my Benable list for a bunch of shops that sell it: List of Etsy sellers who sell fabric twine This is NOT the same as twine that you buy in the store, fabric twine is thicker. You'll use real twine to sew it together, but that's not what you're going to make the actual basket from! This is also not the same as fabric-covered rope/clothesline. It can get pricey to buy a lot of fabric twine, but it takes some time to make it, so it's a tradeoff. I find it pretty relaxing to make, but it can be hard on your hands if you do it for long stretches at a time. Here's a video showing how to make it using a little stand, which I find makes it a lot faster: https://youtu.be/nEB64Sp3DGI Supplies you'll need. The only supplies you'll need for this craft are the fabric twine, scissors, a measuring tape or ruler, a tapestry needle, and twine to do the stitching. Fabric clips are optional but helpful. See the list of supplies on Amazon (affiliate link) I started with some twine that I had hanging around, but it was the kind that's a little more textured and it was a little thicker than the kind I ended up buying later. As far as what color to use, I would choose something that is in the same color family as the twine that you're using, or a neutral color. You'll be able to see the stitches on one side of the work, and it will peek out on the other side, so unless you want a lot of contrast, keep the colors similar. Having said that, it can be 100% fine to use a contrasting color, since it can create an interesting look if you're doing something colorful. This is the multicolored twine that I started sewing the basket with. This is the side of the disc that you sew on, you can see the stitches. On the opposite side of the work, you can see the sewing twine peeking out between the rows, but it's not as obvious as it is on the working side. I ended up getting some large spools of twine from the paper crafting section at a local craft store because it looked a little thinner than the twine that I started with. You can use any kind of twine that you want, but I would recommend getting something that's thinner and smoother to make it easier to pull through the twine loops. Something like this butcher twine that's 100% cotton will give you a smooth surface and will also be washable if you want that to be a consideration: Get butcher twine on Amazon (affiliate link) https://youtu.be/cPXLuRB3wgg How much twine you'll need. How much fabric twine you'll need is going to depend on how big you want your basket to be, and how fat the twine is to begin with. The twine that I made is about 1/3" wide, wo it takes around three rows lined up to make an inch of width. If the fabric twine you're using is thinner or fatter, you'll need slightly different amounts to get these sizes. For me, this disc was made with one yard of twine: This was 2 yards of twine: Below is three yards of twine: This is four yards of twine: This is 5 yards of twine: It took about 12 yards to make an 8" round disc. As the disc gets bigger it takes more twine to go all the way around, so as it gets larger you'll need more to gain as much width. I wanted to make a large basket with an 18" base, so I needed a lot of fabric twine. It took 25 yards to make an 18" round disc, and after that it took about 14 yards to make 3" of height on the basket sides. If you want to do a lot of math you can figure out how much yardage you'll need for the sides based on the circumference of the base. This is a chart of some basket base sizes and how much fabric twine you'll need for 1" of height on the sides. This is using fabric twine that takes about 3 rows to make 1" of height, if your twine is thinner or fatter the amount will change: Base diameter of the basketYards of twine for the baseyards of fabric twine to make 1" of height on the side6"4 to 5 yards1.6 yards to make 1" tall side8"about 12 yards2.1 yards to make 1" tall side10"15-16 yards2.7 yards to make 1" tall side12"18-19 yards3.2 yards to make 1" tall side15"22-23 yards4 yards to make 1" tall side18"about 25 yards4.8 yards to make 1" tall side Use this as a guide to figure out approximately how much fabric twine you need to make a basket as tall as you want. If you want a basket that's 10" wide on the bottom and 10" tall, you'll need about 16 yards for the base, plus 2.7" x 10 for ten inches of height, so that's 16 + 27 = 43 yards for the whole thing. Also, you should include a few extra yards for safekeeping because as you build the sides you have to adjust a little to keep the sides upright, and that can add to your yardage a little. Having said all that, if you're making this by hand, you don't need to worry about getting the measurements exact. Variations and something a little larger or smaller is going to be fine, and gives your basket a hand-crafted authenticity. It doesn't need to be exact! How to start the basket. The first part of making the coil is the hardest because you'll have to maneuver it into shape while you're also sewing it to itself. When you know what shape you want, you basically just have to start a small version of that shape and get the twine attached to itself with a whip stitch. I made this one round, so I started with the twine on a flat surface and wrapped it into a round shape while I stitched the pieces together. The center of the round isn't going to be pretty or neat, so just do your best to get the shape that you want. As you stitch the twine together, stitch between the loops of the twine to attach them to the next row. Since you'll be twisting it into the shape as you stitch it, you won't be sewing it together in an equal 1:1 pattern, it will need you to use your judgment to keep the base of the basket flat as you sew it. It's a good idea to sew a few inches then stop to put the disc down on a flat surface to make sure it's not warping. If you see that it's forming a bowl shape, it means that you're not keeping the twine that you're wrapping around the center loose enough. If you're pulling it too tight it will start to curl up and you'll end up with a warped disc instead of a flat one. Take your time with this and if you see that it's starting to make a bowl, stop and undo it so that you'll have a flat disc to work with. Don't keep stitching if it's warped, undo it, because it won't flatten out on its own. You're basically going to keep wrapping the string of fabric twine around the disc that you've made until it's as big as you want the base of your basket to be. How to start the sides of the basket. When the basket base is as big as you want it to be, you can start the sides. Take a piece of yarn or string that's a different color than the stuff you're working with to use as a marker, and tie it through the twine to show you where you started with the sides on the basket. First row of the basket sides. For the next row, instead of stitching the twine to the outside of the disc shape, you're going to stitch one row of twine on top of the last row of the basket to start building the sides up. I did this by stitching straight up and down through the loops of the twine for one row, using the marker to show me where I started and where to stop. This is where it gets tricky. Because fabric twine isn't 100% even as far as the length of the twists goes, you can end up with a basket that isn't totally straight up and down. You need to add a little extra ease into it sometimes to make sure that the top edge doesn't pull into the center. The one thing to watch for at this point is to NOT make the row on top too small. Leave it a little larger than the base so that the sides aren't too tight because that will make them pull into the center of the basket, and the sides will look a little buckled. Skip a stitch every now and then to create a little give on that first row, and it will work better for the next steps. My basket was definitely wavy on the sides, especially at the bottom. That's okay, though, since the basket will change shape as you put things into it. You just want to pay attention to the shape of the basket as you're making it to try to keep it as consistent as possible. Adding a little extra length to provide some ease in the top edge. I found that adding a little extra length as I stitched the twine onto the sides seemed to work to keep the sides more upright and not curving inward, but as I got closer to the top I did let it narrow a little bit. This is definitely the part that will give you a basket that you look at and think "My basket is crooked," but if you stuff the bottom with something the shape is going to change, so don't be too hard on yourself about it. And if you add a basket liner that can affect the shape by limiting how the basket can stretch, too. When you're done with one row on top of the disc, you can either do another flat row to build the sides up a little, or start stitching it more vertically. I recommend starting the vertical build-up of the fabric twine right away since it will be a little more elastic when you create the sides. Build the sides up. Just keep working! Stitch the fabric twine to the top edge of the basket and make it as tall as you want it to be. My cat decided that the basket was his, so I kept having to stop working on it when he came over to sit in it. I was able to get some photos of him it was getting bigger, though, so it worked out. See Fabric on Zazzle Finishing the basket. When you get the sides as tall as you want them to be, finish stitching the fabric twine and stitch the end to the top edge of the basket. I would do this with a sewing needle and upholstery thread to make sure that it's really secure. If you want to just tie the ends of the fabric twine together in a knot you can also do that. That's how I ended the basket that I made, I tied a knot int he twine then sewed it to the sides and was done with it! The basket will probably look misshapen because fabric twine doesn't give you a sturdy and upright surface. If you were weaving using stiff materials the sides aren't going to slump, but because fabric twine is fabric, it's not going to be stiff. You should be able to stretch the basket out to a certain extent, because the way that it gets stitched together makes it a little stretchy. Another way to shape the basket would be to fill it with stuff, which is going to make the basket take on a different shape. Personally, I think that you don't need to worry about it too much because the basket will change shape depending on what's in it. To give the top edge some structure, I added a piece of flexible garment boning to it by folding the top edge over to make a casing that the boning fit into. The boning keeps its shape pretty well, but it's still flexible enough to bend when needed, so it worked really well for this. I decided to add a lining to my basket, so that will be the next step. I'll add that process to this article once I do it, so check back.