Fabric Baskets...

In continuing with the theme of emptying boxes, I'm going to make fabric baskets for DH's CD collection.  Hopefully, it will be housed in the cabinet that he recently built.  Here's the link to post here.

So, I looked around for instructions for making rectangle fabric baskets.  I didn't really care if it was a for sale pattern or a freebie tutorial.  It just needed to provide enough information for me to create my own custom size without me starting entirely from scratch.  I found this basket:

This is a freebie tutorial at the littleyellowcouch (dot) com.  It gave enough information for me to be able to figure out how to recreate it in the size that I'm wanting for the shelf in the new cabinet.  The inside dimensions for the baskets need to be 16-inches x 5 1/4-inches x 5-inches.  I should be able to get 4 baskets on each side should I need that many.  Here's the hand drawn pattern:

Here's the chosen fabric:

I purchased this at the BluPrint website in the fabric clearance section here.  You can get some really good deals here and if your a BluPrint member the shipping is free.   I am using Pellon Peltex interfacing.

I had to do a sample basket to see how it worked.  Here's the sample:

It seems a little floppy but it's better with the CDs in it.  I'm glad that I did the sample instead of jumping right into making the baskets.  I decided to change the interfacing pieces to one piece.  I do need to check the width of the interfacing but I think the baskets will be much sturdier with one piece.  I'll need to think this through because it is far less waste on the interfacing if it is two pieces.  So, I decided to try one basket with the pieces of interfacing zigzagged together.  Here it is:

I do think this produced a sturdier basket.  It's a lot of work to do this.  Next basket is with the interfacing cut as one piece:

This basket is really floppy looking.  To save a bit on the interfacing I'm going to return to the method that I did on the second basket.  It may take a little bit longer but the basket looks/feels sturdier.

Here's the new baskets:

Here's all the baskets that I have made so far.  You can really see how floppy the middle one is compared to the others.

Here's the baskets with CDs:

Here you can see that none of the methods of making the baskets actually affected the use of the basket.  You can also see that I need to make one more basket.  The pink one is for my embroidery CDs. 

Here's the baskets in the cabinet:

A perfect fit!  I had actually planned 4 baskets for each side of the cabinet but when I saw I didn't really need that many baskets I didn't make that many.

I sure hope that the baskets hold up well.  What do you think of using fabric baskets in this manner?  Have you tried making fabric baskets before?  How did they turn out for you?

Happy Stitching!
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