Tutorial – Easy fabric basket tray with handles
A little while ago, I was having a play and whipped up this easy fabric tray come basket (trasket?!) with built-in handles! It is a quick project, only needs a small amount of fabric, and is ideal for holding small bits and pieces.
Materials
Finished Size – 6″ long x 4″ wide x 2.5″ high
- Outer Fabric: 11..5″ wide x 9.5″ high
- Lining Fabric: 11.5″ wide x 9.5″ high
- Medium Weight Interfacing: cut two (2) 11.5″ x 9.5″ pieces
- Buttons, Rivets or Thread
Notes about materials
- This pattern works best with non-directional fabric, which I didn’t do for the burgundy version
but I figured a large scale print would be fairly unforgiving! - For the interfacing, you want to use one which is quite stiff. I have used a non-woven type which feels quite papery and helps to give the Trasket it’s shape and firmness.
How to Make a Fabric Trasket
Iron interfacing to the wrong side of both pieces of fabric.
Place the pieces of fabric Right Sides Together. Starting on a short edge, and an inch from the corner, join the pieces together using a 1/4″ seam allowance. Stop 4″ from where you started sewing, to leave a gap for turning.
Trim each of the corners – I like to cut at a 60* (ish!) angle so that when it is turned out there is not too much bulk in the corner.
Pull the fabric through the hole so that the right sides are showing. Use a chopstick or something similar, to push out each of the corners gently. Fold the edges in where you turned through and give it a good press.
Top stitch around the edge of the rectangle with a small seam allowance to close the gap and secure the layers together. I like to leave long thread ends so that I can knot them together and bury the ends so that they are not visible.
Taking one corner, fold the short edge Wrong Sides Together with the long edge to create a 45* angle. Clip in place.
Using a ruler, draw a line at a right angle to the edge of the fabric, 2.5″ from the corner point. Repeat for each of the remaining 3 corners.
Stitch along each of these lines to secure. I like to start/stop a little bit
Note: You could miss out the squaring of the corners if you wanted. If you added poppers instead it would make a tray that can be folded flat for storage. However, I found that stitching the edges of the tray made it stronger, making it ideal for everyday use.
Fold each corner in towards the short edge and they should overlap by approximately 1″. Clip in place. If using a button to secure the corner flaps together, I sew through both layers at the same time.
To mark accurately – for example, to add a rivet – use a ruler to measure 1/2″ in from the corner point and halfway down, which is about 1/4″.
If using a rivet, it helps to use a punch plier to create a hole in each fabric corner for the rivet to go through. I always like to dab a spot of fray-check on the hole before adding the rivet to prevent the fabric from fraying over time.
I also thought about embroidering an ‘X’ or a flower if there weren’t buttons to hand…….lots of options!
Fill with pretty trinkets and enjoy! I’d love to see if you make one – please do tag me and use the #fabrictrasket.
See you soon,
S x
Today’s sky::: some blue sky but largely overcast. Boo!
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Looks fun and
interesting!
Carla from Utah
Thanks Carla! Hope you have fun making it!