Sewing for Me: Fabric Basket

In a shocking twist, last night I not only whipped ups something just for me, but it was something PRACTICAL and, and, and, I used some of the fabric I JUST got.

So freaking shocking, I know.

I used two of my new batik fat quarters to make a fabric box to catch my thread trimming and bitty scraps that I throw away.

What?  I finally got rid of the paper bowl (like disposable paper bowl, not something fancy) I had been using?  Yes, I did.

I used the tutorial at Freemotion by the River.

It was  a great way to make something useful from a free motion quilting practice sandwich.  I always feel kind of guilty making practice sandwiches but this will help me get over that.

Look at that HORRIBLE quilting.  But in my defense, it's only about the third time I've tried free motion quilting.  And I really wasn't trying to do my best or use any type of plan.  This was true playing.  I do need to go check and see if I should be setting my stitch length to the longest or the shortest.  I get the feeling it should be shortest and I went longest, which didn't help my case any.

(hmm, I just did a quick search and it seems I don't need to fiddle with the stitch length at all since I control the stitch length as I move the fabric.  DUR, that makes perfect sense!)

Despite the fugtastic quilting, the box turned out great.  I even remembered to pay attention and cut the corners on the correct color fabric.

My machine didn't have any trouble with the extra thickness when closing the corners (to hide the cut off part) or when I sewed the flaps down.

I did go off pattern a bit.

Since I was using fat quarters, I decided to go with 18 inch fabric squares.  That way I wasn't going to end up with a weird little scrap from the length that I'd just be looking at with a "what the hell am I going to ever do with YOU?" face.  (the original pattern called for 16 inch squares)

I trimmed up the fat quarters to get them even top and bottom (so just fuzzy waste) and then cut them at 18 inches wide.  So I was left with a usable strip of scrap fabric.  I didn't even bother trimming off the selvage edge.  That was mostly because with batiks the selvage isn't as obvious and I was fairly certain it would be totally hidden anyway.  And this was just a project for myself so I wasn't overly concerned about it being picture perfect.

For the corners, I went in 2 inches.

I machine sewed the flaps down and didn't bother with the buttons.  It seemed wasteful to use buttons on something that was made out of free motion practice and was made purely to be a practical item.  I can always embellish it later if I decide to.  I could use it to display pins (like fashion pins, not straight pins).  That's actually a cool idea.  I like pins but I never want to put them on my coats/bags because I'm afraid they'll get lost.  OH YEAH, how's that for a fun idea I just had while I was typing.

I definitely think I'd make this project again.  I'm sure I could find uses for more crap catchers.  I've even thought about making a bigger one to house my cats' toys.  It would need to be pretty big, they're horribly spoiled and have a ton of toys.