the one-hour basket reviewed

I sewed my very first "one-hour-basket" for a friend of ours that was having their first baby back in February/March of this year. I used the Fabric Basket Tutorial from Trina from Will Cook for Shoes for the Fort Worth Fabric company. I thought the pattern went well. The handles were on the front and back of the basket. Then I saw the 1 Hour Basket all over IG (Instagram) with the hashtag #kelbysews. This basket looked a little better, peppier with a little more structure and with the handles on the sides rather than in the middle. Aha...another pattern which must be greatly improved? Kelby also lists her free tutorial Craftsy. (As most of you, I like to find free patterns!) I downloaded her version to see what the difference was and if I would agree with her changes. I read. I practiced. I bought more supplies and wracked my brain about improvements and modifications. Here is my opinion after making a couple of baskets from both tutorials!

The Fabric Basket from Trina is a very nice, tall and roomy basket made from quilting quality fabric that is quilted on the outer shell. The outer shell fabric is fused and quilted which gives it stability on the outside. The inside is also quilting quality fabric (which is rather thin) but reinforced with a medium weight stabilizer. The basket holds its shape nicely. The handles fold to the left and right in the middle of the basket. The inner and outer shells are connected at the top and flipped at the top.

Fabric Basket Tutorial from Trina of "Will Cook for Shoes"

Updated

The 1 Hour Basket from Kelby is modified version. I say this clearly because of the dates of when both were published. The basket from Trina was published in February 2015, and the one from Kelby in March, 2015. What changed in the new basket which sparked the need for a new tutorial?
Although the 1 Hour Basket was as published after the Fabric Basket Tutorial, Shelby assured me she has never seen this tutorial before today. My apologies. What is different in Shelby's tutorial? It is improved and a bit more thought out especially if you don't want to do a lot of quilting.

• the newer version is compact - overall dimensions make it shorter and longer.
• bottom base is slightly smaller.
• clears up the discrepancies for inner and outer shells (inner lining must be smaller to prevent puckering when top stitching the two shells together. The inside was sewn with a 5/8" seam allowance rather than 1/2".) The picture below shows this puckering on the original basket.

• changes the handle positions to the ends
• handles are longer and narrower
• uses home decor quality fabric (definite plus for stability)
• changes the base to be slightly narrower (square base pockets reduced from 3 1/2 inches to 3 inches)
• flips through the inner lining at the bottom rather than the inner shell at the top  (a definite plus for the overall design)
• does not reinforce the inner lining to make a shell

Both baskets look amazing don't they?? I agree, the photos are great!

Fabric Basket Tutorial from Trina

 

1 Hour Basket Tutorial from Kelby Sews

Here is what you don't see or what you see when you put them side by side:

Fabric Basket Tutorial vs. 1 Hour Basket Tutorial

So you can understand, these baskets were slightly modified by me when I sewed them together. Here is what I changed to each basket:

Basket from the Trina Basket

1. Not quilted.
2. No use of stabilizer on the inner lining to make a shell.
3. Handles on the ends instead of side.

Basket from the Kelby Basket

1. Sewed the handles like the first basket by folding in the center once and folding in again 1/4 on each side.
2. Added cotton batting and quilted on the crease lines.
3. No use of home decor fabric on outer shell nor on the inner lining.

What is your opinion? Which one do you like better?

I clearly like the second (improved) version better. But I think it all depends on how you are going to use the basket. If you are going to use it for holding diapers, I would clearly use the tutorial from Trina exactly as she wrote it, but I would flip through the top, because it makes for a better finish. I would also quilt it very tight for added stability. I think the handles on the front and back are just fine, but may need to be adjusted for your purposes. If you want a more decorative basket, I would pick Kelby's which proves to be a quick sew with little hassle. I would adopt the handle size and length from Trina's tutorial though. I think they look better short and stump. But keep in mind, both of these baskets take a while to sew. Make sure you read through the tutorials carefully to understand.

If you are interested in how I fine-tuned the basket for my Christmas gifts, stay tuned.....Part 2 will be posted tomorrow!

If you are celebrating Thanksgiving today, happy Thanksgiving!! I heard that the Carolina Panthers will be playing today! Yeah, go Panthers!! We will be celebrating our turkey day on the weekend when we have time to enjoy it, without the stess of work and school. Thanks for stopping by!

easy pyramid egg warmer - a free tutorial

Are you looking for that perfect little quick gift for someone especially for a birthday or Christmas? How about this adorable pyramid egg warmer that will cheer anyone up. It even makes a quick addition to your Easter table. Here is a tutorial that will show you how to make the cutest egg wrap from triangles in less than one hour!

First of all, if you are not familiar with me, my name is Karen. I am an American living in Germany and that for the past thirteen years! I love designing patchwork and most of what you see on my website is/are originals. I love working with EQ7 and doing improv as well. The best ideas and creations evolve when you improv it. My patterns can be found at the Moda Bake as well as Craftsy. My philosophy is the SEP approach - simple, easy, practical. I try to find ways to make it faster and simpler so I have time for other things....like playing with my kids!

I am hosting MY first ever Linky Party for Ho, Ho, Ho and on We Sew organised by two fabulous ladies - Paula from Mud, Pies and Pins and Fiona over at Celtic Thistles Stitches. (Don't forget to check out their tutorials below.) This is the third month of their fabulous party celebrating getting ready for Christmas, getting organised and slowly building up a stash of finished projects for that very stressful holiday season. We have one whole year to prepare, so have fun with it!

January Post from Paula - Mud, Pies and Pins - Fabric Tree Decorations
February Post from Fiona - Celtic Thistles Stitches - Coffee Lover's Set

There is an awesome giveaway this month from Cindy at Fluffy Sheep Quilting - a wonderful holiday assortment of Perle 8 coloured DMC threads. Fiona already has this pretty selection packaged and ready to send to you, if you win! All you have to do for your chance to receive this beautiful prize is link up through the linky party at the bottom of the post. A random winner will be selected - computer generated of course....nothing unfair about it. Show us what you have created and finished up this month in your preparation for Christmas 2014.

      

I would also like to thank all of the sponsors who have donated prizes for the entire duration of the Ho, Ho, Ho and on We Sew Link Up Party. You make our hearts sing with excitement by allowing up to fulfill our dreams of creating and sewing by providing incentives and rewards for our hard work! THANK YOU!

And now on to the tutorial. You can download a PDF file from my patterns page.

Materials Needed

Assorted prints and solid fabrics

Vliesofix F220 (or other thin) Stabilizer

4¼ ” or 11cm Elastic Band or Ribbon

Triangle Ruler or 60° Angle

Cutting Instructions and Assembly

• Using a 60° Triangle ruler, roughly cut three 4¼" or 11cm triangles from your print fabric (measuring from the tip of the triangle to the bottom middle). Bond stabilizer to the back of the fabric according to directions. Cut to actual size.
• Cut three - 3¾ inch or 10 cm triangles from solid fabric.

The inner triangles will be smaller to accommodate the finished edge on the bottom. If you cut them the same size, just trim them a little smaller later like I did.

Stack your first two triangles right sides together (RST). Insert your elastic band so that the short end is on the right and the long end is on the left. Start ¼ inch from the edge, backstitch, making sure you catch the band and sew to the end of the triangle.

Grab your unsewn outer triangle and sew to one of the original two triangles starting from the edge and sew into the corner. Sew until you reach ¼ “from the edge and backstitch.

Take the other end of the elastic band and sandwich it in-between the first and last triangle you sewed.  Sew from the end into the corner backstitching ¼" from the corner. 
Clip the tips and pull through.

Make your inner solid fabric triangles in the same manner.
Flip right sides out and clip seam allowance to 1/8th of an inch.

Insert inner triangle making sure seam allowances are hidden inside.
Fold outer triangle over inner triangle about ¼".
Sew along the outer edge 1/8th of an inch.

Finished! Now you can go into production and make thousands of these for your friends and families.

Don't forget, we are counting on your to link up and show us all the great stuff you are making for Christmas whether gifts or decorations. You will automatically be entered for a chance to win the prize listed above. Good luck!

An InLinkz Link-up

The linky party remains open until 23.59GMT on March 31st, so there still is plenty of time for you to join in the fun.

let your kids go crazy

Last week was fall break in school, so the kids were with me all week. No vacation was planned, and we didn't go anywhere, the entire year. I will have to put that on my list for 2014. ;-) So, I tried to concentrate on housework and getting things back into order. I should put a cleaning lady on my list as well. My eight-year-old son told me that he wanted to sew! How cool is that? So, instead of taking one of his previously started projects out, I thought of a new one. I grabbed my tote of Christmas fabrics and taught his how to go crazy. He loved it.

He wanted nine blocks in his quilt, so we agreed on a 6 x 8" block, 2 x 3 rows. I cut a few foundation blocks, and we got started. My son really enjoyed picking out the fabric and making sure that we only used the fabric once in each block. He also understood the concept of contrast. It wasn't always easy to understand how to sew on the patch so that the first piece was completely covered, but I also had problems there. We managed to get one block done, and then he decided he wanted to pick out the fabrics, iron them and position them; it was my job to sew them on.

We now have four out of nine blocks, and I am looking forward to getting the other five finished, and that before December! He will have his first ever X-Mas quilt that he can share and remember - Mom and I made this one together.

I know a lot of you sewing fanatics have young children at home, and I would really like to encourage you to teach and share with your children this technique. It is great to use up those scraps (it doesn't have to be for Christmas either). It also doesn't matter if the sewing lines are 1/4" or 1/2"; they just have to be relatively straight.

Start with a small project similar to the one below using 6.5 x 8.5" unfinished blocks. The final size will be about 17 x 19 inches and a great size for a wall hanging, placemat, doll quilt, center piece or tote. Teach your kids how to sew, how to rip a seam, how to iron (correctly), and so on.

If you accept this challenge, I would love to see what you came up with, and we will have a little contest - first, second and third place winners. I look forward to hearing from you.

Get your patch on!
Karen