Civil War Baskets

Continuing on with workshop photos . . . The Bloomington/Normal Illinois quilters made these baskets from my book Remembering Adelia last weekend -

Here's my scrappy Civil War Baskets quilt. 

Here are some of the baskets the workshop group made - 

Lots and lots of pretty prints. 

Civil War meets Batiks . . . .

Making those basket handles wasn't as difficult as they expected. 

Once you get the hang of it, it's easy. 

If you're hesitant about making handles for your baskets - here's a simple method that takes away a lot of the stress. You can use the same technique for making vines and stems on other applique projects. See the full directions in the back of my book Remembering Adelia.

The first step is to cut your fabric strip on the bias - which means that it's cut on the diagonal of the grain.

I used pressing bars to form the handles. These are 12" long, heat-resistant plastic bars for making applique vines and stems. They come in a package with several bars of varying widths. You may prefer to use bias tape makers and they work as well. Just follow the package directions for the tool you use.

For the bars, fold the strip WRONG sides together and sew a 1/4" seam along the raw edge to make a tube. Cut the ends of the strip to the the correct length - for the Civil War Baskets it's 1 1/4" x 6". After sewing, trim the seam allowance a little.

Slide the rounded end of the pressing bar into the fabric and press as you roll the seam to the middle. Press the seam in one direction. When you turn it over, the seam will be hidden. Remove the bar CAREFULY as it gets very hot and finish pressing the tube flat.

Now you're ready to shape the handle into the curved shape and pin it to the background fabric. Since the fabric was cut on the bias it will stretch easily. Find the center and pin. (Mine is a little off but it's just a sample piece.) Baste, pin or glue the handle in place. Then, applique it down either by hand or machine. Voila! Easy bias-strip basket handles. Follow the rest of the directions in the book or your particular pattern to attach the handles to the basket. 

 You can also make handles with the 1/4 inch Clover bias tape maker, which is what I used for these handles in my Cherry Baskets quilt from last year's doll quilt club.