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Chances are you have a basket already in your home that would be so much more useful if it were lined. I’ve had an unused basket like this one forever, and I’ve been thinking of lining it. Today I’m going to show you exactly how to make DIY Round Basket Liners.
Wicker and woven baskets look cute, but they are not nice to clothes. I adore the look of industrial and wire baskets like these I see in my local shops, but what the heck would you do with them without a liner??? Would someone please explain this to me?
Anyway, back to my unlined basket. I was staging a house this week, and we, of course, replaced two mismatched plastic laundry bins in her laundry room with these two round baskets that she already had (similar ones here).
I recently read this awesome little tutorial on how to make a mini-basket out of old jeans. Yep. You read that right. (By the way, do NOT go searching Pinterest for “baskets from jeans”. You will lose an entire day, guaranteed.) Thanks to the jeans project, something clicked in my head, and suddenly, the geometry wasn’t a problem anymore. So I ran out to get…a very long oblong tablecloth.
Are you still with me? Yes, this is a post on DIY basket liners for round baskets. C’mon, admit it. You were thinking the same thing. Rectangular fabric. Round basket. Get out the slide-rule. Well, it turns out it is just 4 seams, and you can be a messy sewer like me. The seams are pretty well hidden, so you don’t have to sweat about being able to sew a straight line. You can easily line round baskets with fabric.
How to Sew DIY Round Basket Liners
Step 1: Measure Your Round Basket Height
Take all measurements from the outside of the basket because it will give you a bit of wiggle room and- most importantly- it’s just easier. Measure from the top of the basket down to the middle of the bottom of the basket, on the outside. Then add 3-4 inches to wrap over the top and create a top cuff. My length needed was 25″.
Step 2: Measure the Round Basket Diameter
Measure around the outside of your basket. Mine was 50″ around at the fattest part. Make sure to measure at the fattest part if your basket has a cone shape.
Step 3: Cut Fabric for your Round Basket Liner
Cut a piece of fabric to your measurements above. Does everyone use the planks on your hardwood floors for cutting guidelines, or is that just me?
Step 4: Fold and Pin Fabric for your Round Basket Liner
The next step I had to think about for a minute. You normally sew “right sides in, wrong sides out,” so your seams end up on the correct side. Since I want the “right side” to be on the inside, I’m still going to sew with the pretty part of the fabric on the inside. So fold the pretty side together, and pin a seam on the vertical, making a big fabric tube. (see pictures below)
Step 5: Sew the Long/Tall Edge of Your Round Basket Fabric
Remember, I’m a really lazy sewer, and I’m using a $15 tablecloth, with finished seams already. Use those to your advantage. Meredith Grey was keeping me company. Now that girl had better keep her stitches straight!
Step 6: Sew the Bottom Edge
Keep your fabric folded along the seam you just sewed, and now turn the fabric and sew one long seam along the bottom. So now I have a large square of fabric that is inside out and open on only one end.
Step 7: Fold the Bottom Edge to Create a Round-ish Bottom for the Round Basket Liner
This next step is where it gets just a little tricky. Open up the square, and fold it so the seam is in the middle, then fold it flat. (Gail describes this perfectly in her jeans post as matching up the seams of the leans legs. But since I’m a lazy sewer, I only have one side seam. Just position it so it’s now in the middle.) Here’s what it looks like.
Step 8: Sew the Round Basket Liner Bottom
Now mark about 5″ up from each point and sew a straight seam on either side. When you open it and test it in your basket, which of course you’ll want to do, you’ll see that it nicely approximates a roundish bottom. It’s not exactly round, but it will work in the bottom of your wicker basket.
Step 9: Mark and Cut Handle Openings To Create the Basket Liner Cuff
No doubt you have handles on your basket, so at this point, you’ll want to double-check your measurements. My basket height + half the bottom = 20″. That left me a 5″ cuff. Fold the fabric back with the side seam on the side again, and mark a line 5″ from the top of my fabric. The line should be as wide as your handles are. My handles are 7″ wide. I marked this in chalk so you could see, and then cut it with a rotary tool.
Step 10: Sew the Basket Handle Openings
I tried two different approaches for finishing the handle opening. One the first, I cut a little cross shape like you see marked above. But I found that didn’t work any better than my second approach. After just a single line cut, I pulled and pinned the fabric back into a little “eye” shape, and sewed a quick seam all the way around. It’s not fancy, but it will keep things from unraveling.
And here are the finished round baskets with fabric liners.
Now with these bright liners, these baskets could be used for anything. Laundry, toys, pet supplies, you name it. Honestly, it took me longer to write this post than to sew fabric liners for these round baskets. And it’s going to look great in the house that we’re helping to sell very soon. I’m pretty sure that the homeowner is going to want to take these to her next home.
These DIY round basket liners are a true beginner project. If you own a sewing machine and can thread a bobbin, you can do this project. What do you think?
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Thank you! I have a basket in the kids bathroom that I need to make a new liner for since we changed it from a “fishy” theme to a more grown up Ikat print!
Glad I could help, Grace. It’s a nice feeling when you change the design of a room and can end up changing everything, and don’t have odd parts of the room remaining.
Love! Sharing on fb today and pinned. 🙂
Thanks Denise. You are too good to me!
Such a pretty decor idea and useful trick to know.
Yes, the “round” part of this solution held me up for years longer than it should have. Think how many pretty baskets we’ve both passed by for lack of a liner.
These were great instructions for someone with “basic” sewing skills. Had to make three for daughters popcorn bar at her wedding. Figuring out the measurements was stumping me…thanks for the much needed help! Elfie
I’m so glad this was useful, Elfie. My sewing skills are pretty basic, too. I always figure that keeping it simple is the way to go. I hope your daughter’s wedding was or is all that you hope for.
I’ve been trying to find out how I’d cut out the proper shape/design for not a basket but rather, for my fishing net! Lol. The netting on my net got ruined but the frame and handle were fine. So, I went to JoAnn Fabrics and purchased some cloth that’ll work amazing for catching anything from minnows to Catfish…except my attempt at all of it failed miserably. Since then, I’ve been doing even more scouring of the internet but haven’t had any luck – until now, that is. See, the fabric is pliable but also quite strong and so attaching it to a loop is more difficult compared to normal fishing netting since the way I was cutting it out was leading to major overlappibg and folds. As for the “bottom” of the net, I ended up with one part that all the minnows are getting stuck in.
Long story short, thank you for this post!
Tiff, every now and then the internet does something really, really nice, and apparently today was the day. I’m glad this little project could solve your problem! That makes my day. I wish you many good catches.
I’m about halfway done. Once it’s finished, I’ll post a photo of it (is that possible in a comment here?). I wanted it done way sooner but alas, life threw some sticks in my spokes, so to speak, and I’m only now tackling it (ha, get it? – “tackle”…as in tacklebox…ohh dear…I’m here all week folks, no worries! Lots of laughs…or not…). Thanks again so much for this post!
What could I line a bushel basket with that I could put popcorn in for a popcorn bar at a wedding? Any suggestions please.
Sounds like a fun wedding! If you wanted to make a liner like I describe here, you could use almost any muslin or cotton fabric to go with your theme, assuming the popcorn isn’t going to be dripping with butter. Have you looked into whether there might be a gift basket bag or wrapper that you could use as a liner?
You could put one of those plastic flower pot trays in the bottom of the basket before you put the liner in place. Those plastic drip pans for flower pots come in all sizes. I use them in baskets that I use for waste baskets and I don’t use liners. Now that I see how easy it is to make basket liners, I may make some of those!