This is so simple I am almost embarrassed to call it a tutorial. The background on this is that when I buy fruit at our local farmer's market it often comes in cardboard baskets like this one. I use them to store various little bits and pieces but sometimes I have more than enough and I have to flatten them to go into the recycling bin. The handle is removed and then the ends are unattached and one is left with the carcass of a basket.
I wanted to make some simple baskets to hold some small gifts for Christmas. So I laid down two contrasting colors of wool felt and traced the shape of the flattened fruit basket out. I sewed them together . I then folded the shape back up into a basket and sewed a button on either end to fasten it. So simple and yet so functional. You could make this with other fabric , stiffen it with interfacing or even hide a piece of cardboard from the original basket in the base if you wanted to. I like the softness and slight laxity to my prototype. I bet it would be really awesome made with recycled burlap.
My daughter thought I was making a military style felt hat. I will have to think about that and see if I can convince her to model it later in the week:)
I had great fun filling it with beautiful soft things and taking pictures. Edgar found it very interesting as well and I found it increasingly difficult to get any shots without a little bit of edgar appearing somewhere in the picture.
The elves are really busy making pompoms in the land of resurectionfern.
As the lovely Lisa so aptly reminded me today, it is the one year birthday of my little etsy shop. I still laugh at how my shop's name is knitalatte and I have yet to sell anything knitted to this very day. I am going to celebrate with a giveaway. All you need to do is leave a comment here by December 6th at midnight. The prize will be four prints from my shop of your choosing. I will even mail them to different addresses if you want to give them as gifts. Thanks so much for a wonderful year. Now if only I could get those pompom making elves to take up the hook and crochet some covers for stones!