Cute Plastic Basket Tutorial

what you'll need
- sewing needles (sharps OR heavy duty will work best)
- white thread (I chose polyester for added strength)
- a thimble (I really recommend coin thimbles)
- plastic bags of all types - grocery bags are easiest, but you can mix and match.

instructions:
Step 1: Cutting Your Bags Into Strips.
It is very important to cut these strips pretty wide. For most normal sized bags, it is possible to get three continuous strips about 4 inches wide. I never got out a ruler, but it's very useful to size up the side seam of the bag before you start cutting to determine how many strips you'll be able to cut.

Step 3: How to Get Braidin'
The strip from each bag will be doubled over, and the two parts will count as one part of the braid. You will have six strands, but each will have a mate. It is easiest to secure the looped ends of your strips over something small and sturdy, like a nail. Once your strips are looped over the nail, make sure they're divided properly into their pairs and get braiding. It's important to not braid too loose or too tight - too tight will make you lose all the wonderful texture and the braid will become quite small, and if your braid is too loose you'll have problems sewing it into a basket later as the foundation will be pretty floppy.

Step 4: Braiding Methods.
- Process only three bags at a time, resulting in one 3-4 foot length of braid. You'll fold the strips in half so the ends are even, braid them together, and then trim and sew the ends. You will end up with lots of lengths of braid that you have to sew together... so lots of extra work, and you probably won't be able to feel your fingers after. Not to mention it goes slowly with all the extra steps.
- Process tons of bags at a time by knotting new strips to the ends of the initial braid - no sewing required except for the very beginning and end of the braid. This does require more patience and a bigger work area, but goes very quick once you get the hang of it.

step 5
sewing
This will significantly cut down on your sewing time. Not only will you be a happy camper, you will be a sultan of efficiency!

- fold over three strips, so the ends are slightly off center and don't meet exactly. (you'll see why in a moment.)
- loop these over a nail or tape them to a surface and begin the braid.
- continue braiding until you near the ends of the strips.
- make sure your strips all end at slightly different lengths, trimming if necessary.
- now you'll tie on additional strips to each of the six original strands as shown in photos 3-8. if you don't do the previous step, you could wind up with all your knots in one place, which will make for an ugly braid.
- make sure not to pull too hard while knotting, or you could rip the bags.
- also make sure not to knot too many times - two knots is more than sufficient.
- once you have all six strands extended, match them up into their proper pairs and keep braiding, trying to tuck the recently created knots into the braid, untangling your work every once in a while.

step 6: Starting the Basket.
Coil the rope tightly, skinny side up, until you reach a base size you're happy with. Secure this with a pin or another sewing needle. Now, pick the uglier side of the round - it'll be side you sew through to secure it.

Grab the tail of the braid that you pinned into the base, and bring it up diagonally to form the bottom row of the basket. Push your needle down through the base as shown in the first picture, and then bring it over the braid and back down through the base to secure the bottom row. Do this every 1-2 inches, keeping the thread diagonal and tight and the braids upright and straight, until you're left with 3-4 inches of thread. Keep doing those diagonal up and over stitches until you come to the end of the braid.

done!

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