Tutorial: 4th of July Bread Basket

I’m not normally a big decorator for every little holiday. I go totally bonkers for Christmas and Halloween, and the rest of the year goes by pretty much all the same. But something is coming over me as Atti is getting older. Suddenly I’m paying more attention to the seasons, holidays have new significance, the march of time is more worth celebrating to me. I’m sure it has something to do with Atti starting school and seeing how closely his education is tied to the world he experiences, causing me to experience it all over again. Basically, all this can be summed up as, blah blah blah parenting changes you. And in my case, it means I suddenly feel the need to get festive, even on days that I never really cared all that much about before.

Still, I’m not ready for tablescapes for every month of the year or a mantle redone for every season. I’m taking baby steps toward summer holiday decorating, which means a trip to the dollar store. I bought this cheapo basket and five handtowels. Three of the handtowels I’ll share with you tomorrow in a special weekend post to squeeze it in for the holiday, but with these two I turned $3 worth of dollar store supplies and some ribbon I saved off a package into a sweet bread basket I can use at my 4th of July barbecue.

Start with the handtowel you want to use for your outer layer and wrap it around your basket wrong side out. Use pins to secure the sides of the towel to the basket to make sure you get it centered, then pinch together all the extra fabric at the corners. When you pinch and smooth it you’ll end up with a triangle shape. Place a pin through both layers, snug up against the basket, to mark your sewing line.

Sew straight down across the triangle shape, check for fit, and once you’re satisfied with how each corner is sitting, cut off the excess.

Repeat this process for the interior lining, only pinching the corner fabric in to the center. Remember to lay the fabric wrong side out so you can take it right to your sewing machine.

Cut off the excess fabric around the rim of the basket, getting close to flush with the top. You might want to use a little hot glue in the corners to keep the lining from shifting around while you’re working.

Cover the raw edges with a little ribbon and hot glue. Try to use a light touch so you don’t see the glue through the ribbon or make any big bumps.

To finish it off, I took the ribbon I had left, tied it into a bow, and then hot glued it onto the front. I love how sweet this looks holding bread, but I’m thinking of making a bunch more. I think they’d look adorable spread out along a buffet table, one holding napkins, another for silverware, and a couple a little bit bigger for potato chips.