Upcycled Denim Fabric Baskets

09 January

Today it's time for our monthly Thrifty Chicks challenge! Woot! Woot!

If you are new here, each month several blogging friends and I get together for a DIY upcycling project, this month's item that we'll be upcycling is old jeans, or in my case some vintage denim fabric!

For this month's project, I made a cute little fabric basket from some vintage denim that I've had forever!

I have had this fabric for years... like YEARS! There isn't a lot of it but I just never have been able to part with it for some reason!

Alternatively, you could use a portion of a leg from a pair of jeans and then you've already got the round shape.

All you need for this project are two complementary fabrics (one for the exterior and one for the lining), matching thread, and a button (optional).

TIP: If you are using lightweight fabric you'll want to use iron-on interfacing so that your basket will be stiff enough to stand on its own.

Cut your fabric into rectangles in the size you want.

Place the fabric right sides together and then stitch along both sides and the bottom. Do this for both the outer fabric and the lining.

Now you'll make boxed corners so your little basket will be more like a lunch bag with a square bottom.

Pull apart the front and back of the fabric and refold the bottom corner so that the seams line up.

Stitch across the corner a couple of inches up from the point.

Do that on both sides and then trim off the pointed end.

Turn right side out and you'll have a boxed bottom!

Do this for the lining as well (do not turn the lining right side out).

Put the piece you've turned right side out inside the lining piece.

Stitch around the opening joining the outside and lining together. Leave a small opening for turning.

Begin turning right side out, pulling the two layers through the opening.

You should have both pieces right side out now. Then just push the lining down into the denim to form a basket. Handstitch the opening closed.

Fold down the top edge.

Isn't that cute?!

At this point, your basket is completely reversible. I decided to add a hanger to mine with another scrap of the denim. You could use ribbon too.

You could use your new basket for many different things... makeup brushes in the bathroom, craft supplies in the studio, knitting or crochet supplies, etc.