A tutorial covering how to make a "coiled basket/bowl/toddler hat" from a scrap of camo fleece fabric.

1. How to Make a Braided, Coiled Basket/
Bowl/Toddler’s Cap From a Scrap of Fleece!
by April Iris McLeod
of ThereCanBeOnlyOne
Finished
Basket from
the front and
from the top,
showing
intended use.
The “scrap” of camo fleece—this was a
bathrobe tie belt.

2. This project was inspired by the talented sewists in a FB
group about sewing! I saw some very beautiful examples
of coiled rope baskets made by the talented group
members. They used cotton clothesline and a zigzag
stitch. I needed a project to upcycle a piece of camo
fleece. This was a tie belt from a bathrobe. I got just the
belt (no robe) from a box of fabric at a yard sale. The
other fabric in the pattern is a scrap of camo from my old
Air Force BDUs. I made an ottoman for my son for
Christmas and covered it with BDU camo and have some
left over. Here is a picture of the ottoman:
Here is the scrap of camo I used
on the bottom of the basket.
NOTE: The photographs in this
tutorial were taken by me, with
my camera phone under various
lighting conditions—sorry for the
variation in colors!

3. So, I took all the stitching out of the bathrobe belt—I was left with a piece of
fabric approx. 7 feet by 4 3/4 inches. I cut it in half lengthwise, giving me
two pieces 7 feet by 2 3/8 inches. I then cut those two pieces into thirds,
lengthwise, leaving 6 pieces 7 feet by .78 inches (a little over 3/4 inch.) I
sewed the short ends of three pieces to three other pieces, giving me 3
pieces 14 feet long by .78 inches wide to braid. (The reason for the unusual
measurement is I was using an existing scrap and I wanted to use all of it—
you may use whatever measurements you like—this amount will give you a
basket approx. 4 inches across the bottom by 5 inches tall (of which I turned
2 inches down to make the decorative edge) the top diameter of the basket
is approx. 6 inches. Adjust your fabric accordingly.)

4. This picture shows one of the 14-foot long pieces – I had three
of these and the next step is to braid the three pieces together.
When braiding fabric, I find it easiest to sew the ends of the three
pieces together at the beginning and place the fabric strips under
a clamp of some sort—or , you may put a tack through the fabric,
into a table, etc., to hold it steady while you braid. Do not pull too
tight, but keep a steady pressure on the fabric. Your strips will
tangle on the long end while you are braiding—I find it helpful to
stop every 15-20 inches, put a safety pin through all layers,
untangle the ends, clip the edge (right by the safety pin,) then
begin again. Repeat this process until you get to the end. The
following pictures show these steps.

5. I ended up with approx. 11 feet of braided fleece. Your measurement
may be different, depending on your fabric and how tight your braid is.
Next, I took the fabric to my machine. I used an inexpensive Brother 21-
stitch machine. I used a number 14 universal needle and a stitch length of
3.5. The first step on the machine was to sew across both ends,
backstitching and stitching a couple of times to secure the ends. Next, I
began making the “coil” by folding about 1 1/2 inches of the braid next to
the end of the braid as shown in the first pic below, then using a wide
zigzag stitch, I began stitching the braid together. I continued coiling the
braid, keeping it flat to make the base of the basket about 4 inches across.

6. When I had the base the size I wanted, I started bending the
braid upwards and pulling a little tighter as I stitched—this
started shaping the side of the basket.
At one point, I realized I needed the bulk of the basket on the other (left)
side of my needle and I was able to simply turn the basket to the other
side! Lucky Me ;-)
After the sides were about 3 inches
tall, I started loosening the outer
braid strand to make the basket go
“outward” like a cap brim (you will
see this can actually be used for a
cap—this one would make a toddler-
sized cap.) I continued to the end of
the braid—about two inches outward.
—this part becomes the “turn-down”
on the basket.

7. The next 3 pictures show the end of the braid. I pulled the last
inch diagonally across the edge of the basket. I stitched across
the end, then trimmed it close to the stitching.
Here is the basket at this point—if you stop here you have a toddler cap! It
has just enough stretch ;-) But, I wanted to make a “catch-all” basket and
I wanted to reinforce the “bottom,” so I used two circles of leftover camo
stitched together—see pics on next page.

8. Here are 2 circles of camo fabric (from my old Air Force
uniform,) cut to about 4” across. I stitched them right sides
together, turned right-side out, then stitched close to the edge.
I decided to use the “free motion” or “darning” feature of
my machine. For this machine, that meant removing the
presser foot and putting a plate on top of the feed dogs
(some machines have a button or lever to lower the feed
dogs. I wanted to experiment with this feature to attach the
camo “base” to the basket.

9. I turned the basket inside-out for ease of stitching the
base on. I placed the base in the “bottom” of this “inside-
out” basket and, holding all the layers as tight as
possible, I stitched a very random design just to make
sure it was well attached to the braided part of the
basket. At this point, you may embroider a design or
initials on the bottom, but I just did random stitches
across the circle. (Note, my machine can be used with a
regular embroidery hoop, but, in this case, there was no
room—this is the
same setup as for
darning.
The last step in
attaching the circle
was reattaching my
presser foot,
removing the darning
plate, and zigzagging
all the way around
the base. Then, turn
the basket right-side
out.

10. Here is the bottom of the basket.
I pinned the “brim” down
evenly around the outside
of the basket, then, using a
straight stitch, sewed
straight down where each
pin was.
This pattern, design, and tutorial, including all
text and images are the intellectual property of
April Iris McLeod and ThereCanBeOnlyOne. It
is freely shared for personal use, including gift-
giving. You may not use this pattern or these
instructions for monetary or other gain.