My take on the fabric basket

Yesterday I had the luxury of Liv being at school all day, and having no schoolwork of my own to do! This only happens about two or three weeks a year, when my school has let out before hers has.

So what did I do with my time? No cleaning, nothing productive. Instead, I made this.



I'm a bit ashamed to say that it took me nearly the entire day (minus my trip to Hancock's and my lunch run to Taco Bell). I followed Pink Penguin's fabric basket tutorial. Her instructions are easy to follow, but I was more than a little braindead after the end of the semester so I had to make friends with my seam ripper some.

My straps are roughly twice as long as they needed to be. I misread the instructions and prepared two long straps, instead of preparing one strip of fabric and then cutting it in half to make two straps. DOH. At first I thought they looked ridiculous, like a pair of bunny ears or something. But then I took it to the park with me and realized that those long straps fit perfectly around my wrist. Fabric basket meets wristlet! Woohoo!! Uh, I MEANT to do that, yeah....

After I made the basket I thought I'd try a little fabric flower for an embellishment. I don't have the link to the tutorial I followed, but it's one of those Japanese folded fabric flowers. Google "Japanese folded fabric flower tutorial" and I'm sure you can find plenty of tutorials to show you how to make them.



I made it as a brooch so I can take it on or off as I see fit. I actually finished it up this morning during storytime at the library. I think I'll start bringing a small needlework project with me every week. Lots more fun that listening to, "Rum pum pum, this is my drum" for each kid.