square scrap basket with braided top

Happy Thursday! (ok its really Friday, we went to the fair last night so I was not able to post last night!) Today I'm going to share my basket pattern I pulled out of my scrap bin.  what does that mean? well, its a simple square basket with braided top but I pulled out reed that looked long enough from my scrap bin and made this basket.  I had several different sizes so its a puzzling pattern but I think it works.  So if you have a big scrap bin like I do (I have 14 people making baskets in my basement so we have lots of scraps) dig in there and weave this basket!

5/8 “flat cut 8 @ 22”  (stakes)

1/2” flat cut 6 @ 22” (stakes)

3/8” flat cut 6 @ 13” (filler)

No2 or No3 round (depending on the braid you plan on doing)

 cut all stakes and filler, mark center of the rough side, then soak it.

laying out the stakes and the filler. 

lay out the stake 5/8", 1/2", 5/8", 1/2", 5/8",1/2",5/8"  making sure to leave about 1/2 inch in between each stake, take 1 of the 1/2" and lay it vertically over the center line.

take the filler 3/8" and lay it horizontally in between the horizontal stakes you previously laid down over the 1/2" vertical stake.

weave the rest of the stakes in this order on each side of the center 1/2" vertical piece. 5/8", 1/2", 5/8"

measure the base to 7"X7".  now fold the filler and cut down the center length wise and V tuck.

twine around the base with no.2 round once (natural or dyed your choice)

wet the reed and up-stake the side

Now we weave!

3 rows of 3/8” flat

1 row of 5/8” flat

 2 row of no. 2 round dyed double twine or you can just weave with round reed several times 

(its just like triple twine but using 2 round reed instead of 3 here is a triple twine tutorial)

1 row of 5/8” flat

3 rows of 3/8” flat

Twine twice no.2 round

Wet the stakes and tuck all (do not cut!)

we add the braid.  You can either do basic braided rim  or the other braided rim your choice.

if you are going to do basic braid use no3 round reed and no2 if you want to do advanced braid.

enjoy your basket!