Hat and Basket Tutorial

Last Easter, I was trying to come up with a way to make a small basket for tiny treats.  I wanted it to be a real basket, to be woven with real sides.  I usually do my best thinking as I am falling asleep, and when I went to bed one night, I came up with this idea.  It is really quite easy , and it does not take as long as it looks.

I am always looking for little things to place around my half scale house. The basket is for Violet and is made with a finer cotton than the hat.  The hat is made with one strand of floss.

These baskets are one inch scale.  I changed the size by using double strands of floss.

This is Evalina's basket.  I used one strand of floss.

Before you start, find a bead that is the basic size and shape of the basket that you want.  I have used pictures from the empty one inch scale basket above.  I made the bead out of dirty Femo.

The first step of the tutorial is for the bottom of the basket...this is also for the first steps of making a hat.

First I cut a circle out of  cereal box cardboard, and draw lines that intersect in the center.  This gives me  an even amount of marks around the outer edge...I add one extra mark that does not have a partner across. I usually have
 16 +1 slots ( there are 14+1 here)
I clip tiny slots at each line around the outside of the circle.
I  Cut 8 threads that are long enough to go across the circle and dangle over the edge.

I place the threads so that they cross over each other. I will call these spokes
I have an even amount of  spokes, and I need an uneven amount to weave in a circle,.  I had you cut an extra slot.
decide what color you want for your basket...This basket has pink and green.
I thread the green thread through a sewing needle and knot the end.
Pull the weaving thread through the extra slot, and bring the thread up the the intersection of threads...you now have an uneven amount of spokes.
You are going to weave through the spokes in a circular method.
I occasionally dab a bit of glue at the beginning of a row, so that it will hold its shape better.

This is the bottom of your basket, or the crown of a hat.

If you are making a rounded hat, weave loosely  If you are making a basket or a flat hat, weave more firmly.
dab some glue to the last round of the basket bottom.

This next step seems time consuming and weird...it may be, but it works.
make sure that you add some glue to the last part of the basket bottom.
Carefully remove the spokes from the cardboard..looks like an octopus.
Place the bottom of the basket onto the bead.
one by one, thread the spokes into your needle and bring the thread up and down the center of the bead and through the bottom of the basket.
when you are done, all of the threads will come through the bottom of the basket.  This give you a nice piece to hold onto, and it brings the spoke into the right position to weave the sides up.
weave your thread around until the basket is the size that you like.
I changed colors so that it would be festive.
Make a solution of tacky glue and water.
Completely saturate the basket with this mixture.
For this basket, I made a braid of all three colors of my basket and used the braid for a handle and as a decorative rim.  I saturated the braid with the glue mixture and shaped the handle and glued the braid directly to the edge of basket.
when everything is completely dry, pull the spokes out of the bead and basket one by one.  The threads come out easily.  There is no picture, but you will see that you have a basket with lots of threads hanging off...cut them off  and glue the handle which should be stiffly formed into a U.

for a hat, you should follow the first part of the basket tutorial.
Take a pin, and carefully pierce the center of the woven circle.
find a bead that is the same size as the head you plan to put the hat on.
take your pin and place it through the bead.
slip the pin and bead directly under the woven circle and pierce the cardboard under it.
Make a mixture of glue and water.
saturate the woven circle with mixture and carefully drape it over the bead.
when the crown has dried, start to weave again.
pull the first two rows firmly so that crown is drawn down.
weave around until the brim of the hat is the size that you want.
Saturate the whole hat with glue and water mixture.
carefully remove the hat from the cardboard and clip the threads.

I made some tiny roses with Femo.
I glue a thread around the brim of hat...if I was to make a larger hat for a one inch scale doll, I would use a double thread for the spokes and the weaving thread, and I would use a braid to go around the brim.
I used my pin cushion to hold the hat down while I attached a little bow to it.
The tiny roses are a last touch...I will carefully glaze the roses with triple thick so that they will have more substance.

I love to use colorful threads for Easter baskets, but I plan on making some kitchen baskets with natural colored threads at some point.  I am also planning on using beads of different shapes for other kinds of baskets.  I think that I will make a square basket by weaving in a square first and then using a square bead as a form.  I have made some of my own bead out of Femo to make the shapes that I like.  I hope that this tutorial make sense to you...if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Have a great day,