• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Sew Fearless

overcome your fear of needles

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • About
  • Contact
  • Cart
You are here: Home / Home Goods / Basket Liners [Tutorial]

Basket Liners [Tutorial]

February 18, 2013 by Jodi 19 Comments

Lined Baskets Tutorial - SewFearless.com

I wasn’t planning on making a tutorial for these basket liners. I’m tired, they aren’t particularly fancy or interesting, and I am distracted by baby-ness. BUT….My little sister requested one, and since she was sweet enough to thrift for baskets for me, I couldn’t say no to her. So here is the basic gist of it for you….

You will need:

  • a basket
  • fabric (I used muslin, and doubled up the lining to make it more opaque.)
  • 1/2″ elastic
  • the usual – thread, pins, etc….

It starts with a basket – handles removed.

thrift store basket - sewfearless.com

Measure from the center of the basket bottom, up the side and over to where you want the liner to end. Add a seam allowance and 1″ for the elastic casing.  This measurement is height of your liner. (Multiply the height by two if you are doubling up the lining like I did. )

Measure the height of the liner from the bottom center of the basket - sewfearless.com

Measure around the outside of the basket. Add to this measurement a little “ease” (1/2 to 1 inch) and two seam allowances. This is the width of your liner.

measure the outside of the basket opening - sewfearless.com

Cut out a piece of fabric according to the width and height measurements. Fold it in half width-wise right sides together and sew the “height” sides together making a tube.

lining as tube - sewfearless.com

If you are doubling the lining, fold the tube down within itself wrong sides facing. The folded edge of the tube will be the top of the lining. (Although, the top edge is shown at the bottom in this photo. My apologies.)

tube doubled up - sewfearless.com

Fold over the (folded) top edge of the lining 1 inch to the outside of the tube.

fold over 1 inch to the outside of the tube - sewfearless.com

Sew a 3/4 inch casing along the folded edge for elastic. Leave an opening for inserting the elastic later.

sew an elastic casing - sewfearless.com

Sew the bottom edges of the tube together.

sew the bottom edge of the tube together - sewfearless.com

Measure the shortest width of the basket bottom.

measure the bottom of the basket - sewfearless.com

Then, sew a “dart” across the bottom corners the length just measured. This seam is perpendicular to the bottom seam.

Dart the bottom corners - sewfearless.com

Now, the lining has a bottom to it that is roughly the same size as the bottom of the basket.
view from bottom:

darted and boxed out lining - sewfearless.com

view from top:

lining from top - sewfearless.com

Insert elastic into the casing, and adjust it fit the basket.

elastic into casing - sewfear;ess/cp,

And that’s it!

finished basket - sewfearless.com

I hope you enjoyed it, Rachel (and everyone else)!
Let me know if you have any questions.

(More details on the lined basket project in this post.)

Filed Under: Home Goods, Tutorials Tagged With: basket, liner, sewing, thrifted, tutorial

Previous Post: « 38 Weeks: Making Room for Baby (Lined Baskets)
Next Post: Pattern Testing! »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Karen says

    February 18, 2013 at 3:19 pm

    You’re a genius! I have long mused over this very topic, but never had tried. I’m sure I could have figured it out, but I would done it a much more complicated way. So simple! Wow. Now I need to go find some more baskets 🙂

    Reply
  2. Kelly Smith says

    February 18, 2013 at 6:38 pm

    What is that blue gadget you’re using to insert the elastic? I always just use a large safety pin like my mother taught me mumble mumble years ago.

    Reply
    • Jodi says

      February 18, 2013 at 9:53 pm

      It’s one of these: http://www.amazon.com/Dritz-9300-Elastic-Threaders-3-Pack/dp/B0060LDMTE/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1361242398&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=dritz+elastic+threader

      Reply
      • Kelly Smith says

        February 19, 2013 at 9:23 am

        Ah cool! I don’t think I’ve ever seen those for sale, but I rarely look at “regular” sewing notions and they probably wouldn’t be in the quilting section. Thanks!

        Great, tutorial, BTW. And I love the Wonder Woman banner! 🙂

  3. Carolyn says

    February 18, 2014 at 3:57 am

    Great tutorial! I have got up to the bit where you sew darts though & it might be a stupid question but what do I do with the triangular leftover bit of fabric now?

    Reply
    • Jodi says

      February 18, 2014 at 6:41 am

      Yes, just leave it. No one can see it 🙂

      Reply
      • Megan says

        February 19, 2016 at 6:35 pm

        Making a liner that is printed on the outside for a wire basket that you can see through. What should I do about the extra fabric on the ends caused by the dart in this case? Because unfortunately you can see them with the “see through” basket.

  4. Holly S. says

    January 8, 2015 at 5:39 pm

    Jodi. Can I just say thank you? Thank you! Thank you thank you! Thank you thank you thank you! I have been trying to make liners for some baskets my daughter got (some half a year or so ago now) and the five-piece method left me in tears (it was all that math, I just know it). You method is direct and too the point. Whiz-bang-boom and girlie has lined baskets for her art supplies and other miscellaneous crap. You are a God-send!

    Reply
    • Jodi says

      January 11, 2015 at 11:11 am

      These are the best kinds of comments to get! I am so happy it was helpful, holly.

      Reply
  5. Sharon Chapko says

    April 20, 2015 at 7:13 pm

    I was wondering how you would put the handle back on after making the liner? Also, I have one of those oval wicker baskets, that have the built in holes for carrying it with (that I want to use for a baby gift); how would I work around the holes? Do you have any samples of those types of baskets?

    Reply
    • Jodi says

      May 2, 2015 at 9:16 am

      Sorry, this only works for baskets without handles.

      Reply
  6. George says

    April 9, 2016 at 1:50 pm

    Do I need a sewing machine?

    Reply
    • Jodi says

      April 9, 2016 at 2:51 pm

      This tutorial assumes the use of a sewing machine.

      Reply
  7. Marianne says

    May 19, 2016 at 10:24 am

    This is the best tutorial for a basket liner. So easy and done very quickly. I don’t use elastic, mine fit perfectly, saves me a lot more time. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 38 Weeks: Making Room for Baby (Lined Baskets) - Sew Fearless says:
    February 18, 2013 at 2:11 pm

    […] [As per my sister's request, here is a tutorial on how to make the basket liners.] […]

    Reply
  2. Tutorial: Make a fabric basket liner · Sewing | CraftGossip.com says:
    February 19, 2013 at 6:31 pm

    […] Jodi from Sew Fearless shows how you can make custom fabric liners to fit inside any basket.  Elastic around the edge keeps it snug inside the basket.  Go to her tutorial. […]

    Reply
  3. Tutorial: Make a fabric basket liner | Sewing Patterns says:
    February 19, 2013 at 10:02 pm

    […] Jodi from Sew Fearless shows how you can make custom fabric liners to fit inside any basket.  Elastic around the edge keeps it snug inside the basket.  Go to her tutorial. […]

    Reply
  4. Stacy Sews - Diary of a Fabric Junkie » Blog Archive » Linky Thursday says:
    February 21, 2013 at 4:18 am

    […] Don’t leave your baskets naked. Dress them up with customized liners! […]

    Reply
  5. Make custom basket liners with this step by step tutorial! | Go To Sew says:
    June 6, 2013 at 5:00 am

    […] go ahead and forget boring baskets because this awesome tutorial from Sew Fearless shows you how to make your own custom liners! You can make them funky, you can make them plain. You can pick up some baskets at a thrift shop […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Jodi

Jodi - Sewing Advocate - Mother of 7 - Lover of Swings and Deadlifts - Catholic

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS

Top Posts & Pages

How To Finish A Shaped Quilt Edge Without Binding
Miniature Vestments
Stretch Yourself: Working With Stretch Lace
Convert A Bra Into A Nursing Bra

Subscribe to The Newsletter!


Categories

  • Announcements & Site Updates
  • Baby
  • Bags
  • Blog Crush
  • Children's Clothing
  • Clothing
  • Crafts for Kids
  • Embroidery
  • Featured Fearless Sewists
  • Home Goods
  • Knitting
  • Maternity
  • Non-Sewing Crafts
  • Quilting
  • Round Ups
  • Sew Fearless Original Patterns
  • Sew-Along
  • Sewing Books
  • Sewing Tools
  • Tutorials
  • Updates & Project Progress
  • Vintage (very old posts)
  • Women's Clothing

Footer

Connect

Sew Fearless is about a reckless pursuit of the sewing craft. It is about not letting your fears talk you out of your dreams. It is a place to go for encouragement, information, and sewing camaraderie. It’s a place where “done” is better than “perfect”, and where saying “I didn’t try” is worse than “I failed”. Read More…

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS

ABOUT

CONTACT

SHOP

DISCLOSURE

Sharing Policy

I am glad to have you here and happy to have you share my posts and ideas with your friends. However, please respect my content and do not repost it, except for maybe 1 or 2 photos as a teaser. If you do use my photo, give credit to Sew Fearless and link to the original blog post. Please do not use photos of my children.
Copyright © 2023 Sew Fearless · Site developed by Autumn Street