Basket Template

In my last post, I mentioned that one of my clients asked me to make a lining for a pretty wire basket that will be carried down the aisle when her son gets married this year.

I took the opportunity to send my sewing machine off to the spa for service over the holidays and I only just got it back, so I haven't been able to sew anything together. Besides, I do want to run it by my client first, before I commit to anything.

So, I thought a prototype was in order. First, we need supplies.

• tracing paper


• scotch tape


• pencil


• quilting ruler


• french curve


• paper-cutting scissors

I traced the bottom of the basket and cut out the oval for the base. Inside the basket, I measured from the base up to the first wire that runs the perimeter of the basket (a height my client and I agreed on). It's three inches. Next, I lay the oval base onto a new sheet of tracing paper and marked a three-inch radius around the base template. Using the french curve, I joined the marks I made to sketch the three-inch radius.

I cut out the pattern, as well as the centre base. It makes an odd-looking oval donut. I snipped the donut so that it separates and unfolds as a long, curved piece. I taped it to the base, as though I was sewing it together.

This is where the tweaking comes in. Once it was all taped together, the top part of the insert was rippled, which is what I had pictured in the first place. But now that I see it, I don't like it. And I don't think my client will either. The basket is pretty on its own and the interior shouldn't compete with it.

So I snipped some notches into it. Cinched it in. Taped some more. And this is what I came up with.



It fits nicely in the basket, without being a permanent fixture. This way, my client can remove the pillow and still use the basket after the wedding.



The pattern allows for a seam allowance, so that after it is sewn, the final product will sit just below the wire.



I know it doesn't look like much now, but put your imagination caps on and picture the tracing paper as pretty, white satin. The centre base will be stuffed with a little filling to give it a pillow-like appearance.

I'll show my client the prototype tomorrow and see what she thinks.