Easy Basket Weaving

Basket weaving hasn’t been so easy with this method: weave around a cardboard frame. Originally, I saw this easy basket weaving method in a Japanese craft magazine, I searched around for the template but can’t find it anywhere locally or online. So, I built it based on my dimension.

I would say that this is a wonderful idea to make a basket, with this easy basket weaving method and concept, basically, you can build a lot of shapes and sizes that you want. Here, I demo it with 3 shapes: triangle, round and square, but you can come out with rectangle, pentagon, hexagon, heptagon & even octagon with just a little tweak in the design.

The height can be modified to suit your preference. One thing you have to take note is that the sum of the “fingers” on the frame must be in odd number. Take a closer look at my template, especially the square basket, you will notice that one of the sides has 1 extra “finger” than the other 3 sides. I guessed the original design is made from plywood, I can’t find thin plywood so I used thick cardboard instead which is also cheaper and manageable.

You can use any material to weave the frame of the basket, as long as they are “weave-able”, not too bulky and in long soft strips, eg: twine, yarn, fabric strip, ribbon, rope, glossy paper strip, plastic, raffia, etc…. I used jute twine to make the triangle and round faux wicker baskets, and fabric strips for the square basket. I love the way they were formed, very sturdy and rigid!!!!

Easy Basket Weaving

Material:
1. Thick Cardboard or paperboard, non-corrugated (around 1/6″ thick).
2. Felt for bottom and base.
3. Weaving material, for example: yarn, twine, fabric strips, ribbons, etc….

Tools:
1. Sharp scissors (able to cut thick cardboard)
2. Hole puncher
3. Tapestry needle (#13)
4. Clothespin
5. Craft / Tacky Glue
6. Pen or pencil
7. Ruler

Download the easy basket weaving template (consist of a triangle, round and square) in pdf format.
{It will either open in a new tab or open a small window asking you to save it as a file. If you can’t find the saved file in your computer, the default folder usually is in “/downloads”}
{If you can’t download the pdf pattern, probably you don’t have acrobat reader, download the latest version for free, here.}
Print it and enlarge 200% to get the size I made.
Trace it on the thick cardboard.

After tracing the template on the thick cardboard, use a pair of strong and sharp scissors to cut the template out.
Punch the holes with a paper hole-puncher.
Trace base on felt cut 2 pieces.
Get the rest of the tools & materials ready.

Brush a layer of tacky glue on the bottom of the basket, press & stick the felt onto it.

Repeat the same to adhere the felt to the base.
Snip the edge of the felt follows the grooves between the fingers.

Being to weave over and under around the fingers of the frame.

Push the twine into the grooves of the felt that you have just snipped.
Keep on weaving over and under the fingers until the end of the first round.

When begin the second round, you will notice that you are weaving in the reverse side of the first round.
A full wrap on both sides after finish the second round.

Continue weaving and push the twine down to make them closer to each other. This will avoid gaps in between and will also hide the cardboard away.
As you go higher, the frame will stand up vertically and form the side of the basket.

Continue until you just cover the hole’s level.
Allow a long length of twine for rim stitching later.

Put on clothespin and allow some room for rim making.

To make the rim, insert another type of twine through the space between the clothespin by using a tapestry needle.
Since the length is quite long, divide the twine by half and work both ends from the middle.

Keep going round by round. Take note on the corners and arrange them neatly.

Lay the twine until it fully covers the top portion of the basket.

Secure the rim by stitching the original twine through the holes.

Stitch again on the opposite direction to form a criss-cross pattern.

When reaching the corner, pierce through the gap and make another stitch there.

Hide all ends into the braid to neaten up the basket.
The basket made from an easy basket tutorial is ready to be used.