Tutorial ~ Hanging Fabric Storage Baskets

If there were ever a project that was my most favorite, it would have to be these Hanging Fabric Baskets.  You can make them any size, hang on bigger thicker rods for more drama, or single baskets hung one over the other in a narrow space, really so many possibilities.  It has been fun to see the different variations people have made to use in their homes too. Some of the pictures I’ve been sent include burlap for kitchens storing potatoes and onions, in classrooms to hold student’s things, dorm room storage, even a single one holding magazines by a favorite chair.

Here are the original pockets and baskets I made to hang on my wall above my sewing table, best thing ever.  Clears so much space, yet keeps everything at hand.  Like I said you can make these baskets any size. I even had one that was more like a pocket to hold my patterns.

I made the bigger ones with plexi glass to make a sturdy bottom, but the smaller ones are plenty sturdy with craft bond fused to the fabric.  The tutorial has great tips for making different sizes too.

This tutorial won an award for the top ten tutorials of the year on Ucreate, made my year. Thanks Kari!

Now onto the tutorial!

Hanging Fabric Storage Baskets Tutorial

Supplies:

• all your sewing stuff
• cafe rod, or curtain rod
• brackets to hang rod
• three 8 x 10 Plexiglas sheets, I bought mine at Home Depot for about $4 a piece, by the window section

Fabric Requirements:

• each basket takes 1 yard of fabric, so I used three for this project.
• each basket needs a yard of interfacing, again I used three yards.  I used pellon 809 decor bond, but craft bond would work as well.

Fabric Cuts:

From your fabric cut six 18½ x 28 inch pieces, and three 4 x 10 ½ inch pieces.  You will then iron them onto you interfacing per it’s instructions, and then cut out.  Trust me, it’s easier than cutting out the pellon and then ironing!  As a side note, the ironing is the longest part of this project…if I had a teenager I would have paid top dollar to have them do it, just sayin’!

Sewing:

Now for the fun part!  You will use a ¼ inch seam allowance unless noted, and don’t forget to back stitch!

Take one of your 18 ½ x 28 inch pieces and fold it in half with right side in, short ends together.  Now sew up the sides, leaving the top open.  Repeat on the five left.

Just a tip, you can decide which ones are going to be the lining, and use a slightly larger seam allowance – just a smidgen. This will make them nest inside the outside baskets nicely.

You will need two sheets for one basket, and they should look like this.  I alternated them so that I had a different pattern on the inside then I did on the outside.

Leaving them wrong side out, take and fold your corners down like shown.  To make sure that you are aligned correctly, just make a crease on the bottom fold and line that up with the seam on the inside, make sure your seam is flattened all the way out.

Take a ruler and mark a line 7½ inches long as shown and pin.  After you make the line measure from the point to the line and you should get 3¾.  Repeat on the other side, and do this on all of your pieces.

It does help if you have a cutting mat with measurements, you can see how I lined up the corners to make sure they were symmetrical.  If you don’t, that’s fine, just eyeball it.

Now sew along the lines on each of your corners.

Take the pieces you want on the outside and turn them right side out, folding the corners down.  Drop the Plexiglas into the bottom.

Leaving your other pieces right side in, fold your corners under and place inside of the other shell, on top of the glass.

Next fold your outer shell over about a half inch and pin then repeat on the inner shell…

using the same pins so that you are pinning them together.  Make sure the two overlap some where you will stitch together.

Take your three smaller pieces and fold the ends over a ¼ inch and sew both ends.

Fold in half and insert on what you would like to be the backside of the basket.  Pin in place, making sure that whatever rod you use will fit through.  I tested mine now to make sure.

To make sure that I had it centered, I just pulled the basket straight at the seams and eyeballed it.

Now with a little longer stitch length just sew all around the top, making sure to get all the layers included in the stitch.

See, one nice and clean seam.

And you’re done, now just hang them!

Then fill ‘em up!

Look at all the stuff they can hold too.  If you’ll notice the basket on the left hangs a bit in the front, that is because I made the back strip to hang it only 9 inches, the other two were 10, and they did not have that problem.

Here they are in the space, I wish it were a little more inspiring for you, but we are getting ready to move so what ya see is what ya get!

They really are super easy, and the possible uses are endless.  Again the tutorial with the smaller baskets or pockets explains how to make them any size you want.  You can use any kind of curtain rod, just make sure your piece that the basket will hang from is big enough.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Here is a set that Chris made over at Pick Up Some Creativity to organize her kids hair accessories, she made them smaller and added a fun applique.  You need to check out her whole post, great ideas!

One more thing before I go….are you on Facebook?  What a coincidence, we are too ;)!  You can like us here, we love making new friends.

Thanks for reading and sharing,

Destri

Tagged as: home decor