Pleather/Fabric Basket DIY tutorial

inside: Sew and embroider some adorable pleather fabric baskets with this DIY sewing tutorial. This would make an adorable gift or organization tool around the house. Sew some this weekend!

How cute are these tiny pleather baskets? They are so tiny and perfect for holding coins, keys, jewelry or other small items that are easy to use. I’m super excited about the adorable succulent embroidery I added as well. Just like you can never have too many zipper pouches, you can never have too many fabric baskets! Organize all the things!

Fabric Basket DIY

I just love these little guys! These small pleather baskets would make a perfect coin holder or jewelry dish. The added embroidery it the icing on the cake and they came together so quickly. I used some free embroidery files on the Artspira app for the succulents and the basket tutorial was inspired by this painted basket on Swoodson Sews.

While browsing through the app the other day checking out the new embroidery files and these succulents caught my eye! I knew I needed to make something with them. These little baskets/trays would make a perfect Mothers Day gift as well. I used pleather for the blue inside and fabric for the outside and it worked perfectly.

Making fabric baskets and storage

I’ve sewn several fabric baskets or other storage over the years, so here are a few other projects you might want to check out.

• Foldable fabric basket
• Rope basket
• Under sink storage
• Mesh shower toy holder
• Pleather labels for baskets

How to sew a fabric basket

Let’s get to this pleather fabric basket DIY sewing tutorial! The embroidery part is of course optional and the whole project can be done without it. This of course could also be sewn with leather, canvas, twill or just fabric.

Supplies needed:

• Fabric scraps
• pleather {A friend gave me this small bit of blue}
• Embroidery file from Artspira {or other file}
• Embroidery thread/stabilizer
• Interfacing if not using pleather {to give structure}

For each basket/tray you will need 1 square of pleather and one of fabric OR 2 of fabric and 1 interfacing to go with them. I cut all my squares 6.5″.

We will start with the embroidery, so skip ahead if not adding it. You could also add some vinyl or hand embroidery here as well. Find the center of the pleather {or inside} square and mark it with a pin.

Since I was using pleather fabric for the base I chose to use sticky stabilizer so I didn’t have to hoop the thick material. Looking for an intro to embroidery? Check out my online embroidery basics class!

I transferred the files easily from my Artspira app to my embroidery machine. The first thing I did was line up the center of the file with the center of my embroidery file. Use the arrows on the screen to move the file. I also rotated my file 40 degrees so that it’s at an angle.

I just love how these cute succulents turned out. They were pretty fast to embroider {under 15 min}

After you finish the embroidery, pull the pleather off the sticky backing. Now take the embroidered square and the fabric square and place them right sides together. Line up the edges and clip to keep in place.

Stitch around the two layers. Sew all the way around the square, but leave a 3″ opening for turning. Clip the corners.

Turn the fabric right side out. Poke out the corners and then clip the edge to flatten the edges. Fold in the seam allowance on the opening and clip that closed as well. Top-Stitch around this square close to the edge.

Now we need to sew a square in the middle of the larger one. I was measuring and measuring to try and make a 3″ square in the middle, then I realized that a post it is the perfect size. So center a post it {or another 3″ square piece of paper} in the larger square then sew around it. The post it stayed in place great! This will be the bottom of the basket/tray.

Now it’s time to make a small basket with our pleather. With the inside piece up pinch and clip the corners.

On your sewing machine sew a really wide zig-zag {as wide as you can on your machine. Slide the pinched corner under your sewing foot.

Measure 1″ from the corner point and then stitch in that spot. You will got forward and back only a couple of stitches so that it looks like the photo below. This is really a tacking stitch to hold everything in place. Repeat on the other corners.

Now it’s time to sew a few more then enjoy!!