Susie's Sunroom: Thinking outside of the basket.....

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Thinking outside of the basket.....

Kitchen mixer cover and a basket

Last month, Diana asked me if I could make her a cover for her Kitchen Aid Mixer . And she wanted to know if I had any ideas for covering up a large box of plastic wrap that she keeps out on her counter. I wasn't exactly sure what she was talking about, and asked her to take a picture of it and send it to me. Here it is.

Plastic wrap box..... 14 inches across by 6 inches deep by 5 3/4 inches high

Wow! That's a big box! I knew I had a paper pieced pattern for a Kitchen Aid Mixer already in my files. The big plastic wrap box was going to require some thinking and some trial and error. I got my regular muslin out, to use until I figured out how to make it!

I decided to start making the mixer cover first. I knew that Diana liked neutral and brown tones in her kitchen. And that her mixer is white.

The pattern: KitchenAid Cover from Sew-Ichigo blog
... super cute!!

Photo from Sew-Ichigo blog

Fabrics: Moda Primitive Muslin Time Worn
Lining- JoAnn fabrics: a text and a bright orange
Mixer- Michael Miller Pindots Snow

KitchenAid Mixer Cover made by Susie

Lining and accent on the bottom edge

Lots of fun colors on the lining

View on top.... the gusset

Now I had to make something work for that plastic wrap box.....
The first idea I tried, with muslin, was to make a simple bag and box- out the bottom. Then I thought I would make a drawstring closure and just draw it up to the outer edges of the top of the box. Diana needs to be able to pull the plastic wrap up, and slide the cutter across the whole top to cut the plastic off of the roll. This didn't work.

And then it hit me... I had been looking at basket patterns earlier this month, to find some fun projects for our Basket theme in the May Across The Pond Sew Along. I ran across this cute basket pattern--- The tutorial is Geta's Fabric Boxes at her blog Geta's Quilting Studio.

Geta' s Fabric Basket Photo from Geta's Quilting Studio

The pattern: Geta's Fabric Basket at Geta's Quilting Studio
The fabrics: Moda Primitive Muslin Time Worn
Lining- JoAnn fabrics: a text print

I made a practice basket from my muslin ... using Pellon FF 987 interfacing for stiffness.

This first one was too floppy with fusible fleece

I taped boxes together to get the basic dimensions of the plastic wrap box
14 inches across by 6 inches deep by 5 3/4 inches high

I thought I was on the right track with my dimensions of this basket, after fitting in my model of the plastic box.

The plan: Make each side of the basket: outer tan fabric and inner lining, RST sewn together. After turning right sides out, add a smaller rectangle of plastic canvas in the middle, to support the rectangle. Simply sew topstitch along opening to close it up.
* I decided to not have the sides 'frayed', but to turn them out after sewing, so that the stitching would be stronger . The plastic wrap box will be moved around a lot when being used.

Sew all pieces to the base of the basket, using wide zig-zag stitching

Zig-zag stitches to attach side pieces to the base

You can see the zig-zag stitching here

Yay! The plastic wrap box should fit into my basket. There is a little give and take with it....

I made a lid , but left it detached. Then she can get the plastic wrap out and cut without being hindered.

Here they are in Diana's kitchen !

The lid is reversible

We'd love to have you join in and make a basket, or two, with us in our fun and casual Across The Pond Sew Along group. If you want to make a basket, and need an idea, check out our blogs:

Amanda at The Patchsmith