Shelly's Basket
Designed by Shelly Bychowski

Pattern by The Basket Maker’s Catalog - 3069 Plum Ridge Rd. - Taylorsville, KY 40071 1-800-447-7008

You’ll be inspired to make several of these — weave them all natural or add bands of color. Start with an 8” slotted base and a few rows of twining on 1/2” flat stakes. Weave stop-start rows and finish off with 5/8” flat oval rims. What could be easier?

Shelly’s Basket was designed “out of necessity” as a waste basket by a friend who enjoys basket making and is a ribbon-winning needleworker from Northern Illinois. Shelly hones her skills at Basketcases, a wonderfully unique quilt shop and basket studio in Clare. Thanks for sharing a great basket, Shelly!

Watch a video slide show bleow demonstrating how to make Shelly's Basket.

Click here for Shelly's Basket Pattern PDF file size 1,130 KB

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Shelly's Basket Video

Enjoy this slide show demonstrating how to make Shelly's Basket.

Slide show by Beth Hester.

Building your Basket

Sand your base and apply the finish of your choice. Place the inside of the base upward and mark the 4” center, just above the slot, on each side of your base.

Sort through your 1/2” Flat material and choose the heavier-weight material for your stakes; cut 36 stakes at 15 inches long. Soak stakes for just a minute then lay them on a towel to drain and mellow.

Check the fit of a few stakes into the slot. If the stakes are too thick to be easily inserted here are a couple of suggestions: sand the inside of the slot, use pliers to pinch and flatten the end of the thicker stakes, or carve some of the thickness from the rough side.

Place your stakes, 9 per side, with the rough side up. Insert a stake at the center mark then add 4 more stakes on each side of the center stake (for a total of 9 stakes per side). Position stakes about 3/8” apart, spreading them like the spokes of a wheel. Double-check your count.

Soak two long pieces of #2 Round Reed. Keep the material wet as you work. Using your pliers, flatten the end of both pieces of #2 Round and insert each piece into the slot in two consecutive spaces.

Twine 3 rows.

Secure the ends of the #2 under the previous row; trim ends.

Before upsetting your basket, ‘re-seat’ stakes by pushing each one as deep into the slot as possible.

Dampen the stakes at the edge of the twining then crease upward.

Pre-cut each weaver to 40”; this helps you build the basket straight upward and create a 36” circumference. Note: overlap is about 4”.

Weave 12 or 13 rows with 1/2” Flat, overlapping the beginning and end of each weaver across 4 stakes. If you’re using this as a waste basket, grab your grocery bag of choice and compare the height of your bag to the height of the basket; add more rows as needed.

Bend weavers at each corner on every row to help set the squarish shape; don’t crease the weavers, just bend.

To maintain an even spacing, adjust stakes and keep center stakes in the center of each side as you weave.

Our example has 18 rows of 1/2” Flat; it’s 10” tall. This pattern allows for weaving the basket 12” tall.

Note: The basket at the bottom of these instructions has added rows of color.

When you’ve reached the desired height, pack all rows.

Soak the stakes that extend above the top row for several minutes. Identify each stake where the top row of weaving is on the inside of the basket; crease those stakes to the inside.

Cut remaining stakes flush with the top edge of the basket.

Trim creased stakes to length, then tuck each of these stakes behind one row of weaving on the inside of your basket.

Rims and Lashing

Measure the basket’s circumference around the top row. From 5/8” Flat Oval, cut the outside rim piece 4” longer than your circumference measurement and cut the inside rim piece 2” longer than the circumference.

Sand the rims and then soak for about 10 minutes.

Cut one piece of rim filler from #3 Seagrass the length of your inside rim.

Pin the rims around the top row and mark the overlaps— marking the rounded side of one end and the flat side of the other end of each rim.

Remove rims and carve the overlap areas using a carving knife or hand plane. Round off the rim ends with scissors.

Attach rims and rim filler to basket with cable ties or clothespins.

Tuck ends of rim filler under the inside rim.

Single lash with 1/4” Flat Reed.

Anchor the beginning:

Move forward with some loose loops then tighten the loops from left to right; repeat until you’ve lashed around the rim.

Secure end of lashing on the inside of the basket.

Trim the ends of the lashing and the Seagrass rim filler.

Shape the rims and corners.

Add rows of color if you like; the basket to the right has rows of 5/8” Oak, 11/64” Walnut, a row of #3 Round Lemon twining, and a piece of #3 Lemon added to the seagrass rim filler.

Congratulations - Enjoy your new Shelly's Basket!