Spruce Up Your Nest with Nested Baskets!

August 23, 2022

Tutorials

Hi there! I’m Rhonda from Prime Time Quilt Co Are you in the mood yet to make autumnal gifts and decor? Spruce Up Your Nest with Nested Baskets! I’m excited to share this tutorial for quilty nested baskets that can take you from today through any season or holiday that you celebrate. And if you would like to have an actual pattern with additional details and tips, log on to my website and pick up the PDF pattern for free. The finished baskets measure 12” x 12” and 10” x 10”. They can be made with yardage, large scraps or at quarters. All seams are 1/4″.

Spruce Up Your Nest With Nested Baskets!

To make the pair of nested baskets, you will need:

½ yard each of two contrasting fabrics or four fat quarters
1 yard of two sided fusible flex foam, such as THIS
⅜ yard fabric for binding
Matching and contrasting thread
4 Large buttons or spool of ⅞” or 1 ½” ribbon and 30” of ¼” ribbon

Quilting room supplies you will need include:

Your favorite sewing machine
Steam Iron
Cutting mat and rotary cutter
A stiletto is helpful. I use this one.
If you prefer to hand finish the binding, you will need a sewing needle of your choice.

Cutting Fabric

For the larger basket: Cut one 18” x 18” square from each of two fabrics and the foam. I prefer to layer all three layers for each size together and cut the three layers at the same time.
For the smaller basket: Cut one 16” x 16” square from each of two fabrics and foam.
From the Binding fabric, cut (4) 2 1/4” width of fabric strips.

Fusing fabric to foam

Make a sandwich of (1) 18” x 18” fabric (wrong side up), (1) 18” x 18” fusible foam, and (1) 18” x 18” fabric (wrong side next to foam).

With a steam iron at the wool setting, start in the middle and press moving iron toward the outward edge, letting iron set at each area about 8-10 seconds.
Once the top fabric is adhered to the foam, flip the sandwich over.
If the fabric on the bottom side has shifted, you can peel the fabric away from the foam, reposition, align the edges with the foam, and repeat the process of pressing from the middle of the square to the edges, to fuse the second layer of the fabric to the foam. *Note that I am not using a pressing cloth between the iron and the fabric. While this method works best for me, feel free to follow the directions included with the fusible foam.

Repeat this process with the 16” x 16” fabrics and 16” X 16” fusible foam.

Binding the Edges of the Quilt Sandwich

Sew the 4 strips of binding fabric together, using your preferred method of joining binding ends.
Identify which fabric you want as the basket lining for both the 18” x 18” and the 16” x 16” baskets. Sew the binding to the lining side of the quilt sandwich for both sizes.

Flip the binding to the opposite side of the quilt sandwich and machine or hand stitch to secure on the outside layer of fabric. If you machine finish your binding, this is a great time to use some of the lovely decorative stitches on your machine, or you can machine stitch a simple straight stitch. If you are Team Handstitch for your bindings, you might even try some of the amazing Big Stitch Binding designs that are gaining popularity.

Quilting The Quilt Sandwiches

You can get creative here! Do some free motion quilting, quilt a crosshatch design, or quilt a few rows of straight or decorative stitches. Because I’m a bit of a “less is more” kind of gal, I usually just do three evenly spaced rows of straight stitching. But you do you!

Making the Basket Corners

On both the 18” x 18” and the 16” x 16” quilt sandwiches, place a small mark at the center and 3” below the center edge of the all sides on the lining side of the quilt sandwich.
Measure and mark 3” to the right and to the left of the top center mark on all sides.

Draw a line connecting the bottom center mark to the left and right marks at the top, creating a triangle.

Fold one side of a quilt sandwich in the center. Be sure the top edges are equal!
Sew from the 3” mark to the left of center to the 3” bottom mark. Be sure the top edges are aligned.
Backstitch two or three times at the top and the bottom of the line of stitching. Hint: thread that matches the binding is a plus for this seam!

Repeat on all sides of each size of quilt sandwich.

Flip the baskets, placing the lining on the inside of the basket.
Fold the points down, measuring the left and right edge of each side to be sure the fold is level. Secure each flap with a pin.

Either by hand or by machine, do a tacking stitch to hold the points in place.

Using your steam iron, fold and press the horizontal bottom edges to shape the bottom of the basket.
Fold the vertical corner seams and press with your steam iron to shape the corners.

Take a look at your basket.

Add a bow or large, decorative button to the centers of the rectangular flaps.

There you have it! Enjoy!

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