How I made a reversible picnic basket liner

Supplies:

at least two 1/2 yard pieces of fabric

batting or Insulbright, or both

ribbon to tie corners to basket (8-10" pieces)

a basket

 

 

 First, measure *INSIDE* the basket for the four sides and bottom.  After I got my measurements I made sure to add a little over 1/2" to each measurement to have plenty for seam allowance as well as the fluff of my batting. On my basket the top edges were definitely longer than the bottom, so be sure to keep that in mind when you're cutting out your pieces, they will NOT be square!

 

I cut out the pieces for the front and back, and then double checked that they fit inside the basket.  I also played with the pieces to see if I wanted it solid color or multicolor, and I decided to go multicolor.

 

Next I sewed the sides with a quarter inch seam to the bottom piece to make this plus-shape.  See how the blue pieces look like trapezoids?  Not square, and that's a good thing.  :)

 

Here's a glance at the underside.

 

Here's the two pieces, ready to sew together.

 

Then I laid the two pieces right sides together, placing the ribbons for tying the corners in the corners.  I started sewing about a half inch from a corner on one of the short sides, then sewed all the way around the outside to about an inch up the short side I started on, leaving most of that side open in order to turn my liner inside-out.

 

 

I was able to use where I pinned the ribbons in the corners to hold the pieces together.

 

Just remember to take out the pins when you get here, and sew over the ribbon a couple times.  Also, when you get to the inside corners you may wish to sew over it a couple times too.

 

Next I chose to pin my padding to the lining then turn it inside out.  The padding is cut about 1/4 inch shorter than the measurements of where I placed them on the liner, also my batting is 1/2 inch thick.  You could use two pieces of Insulbright here, or layer batting-Insulbright-batting for a nice thick and insulated liner.

 

I turned it inside out carefully, poking out the corners and making sure the batting stayed laying flat.  Then I took out the pins that are now inside the liner, and pinned it all in place from the outside.

 

Be sure to sew up the opening you turned the liner inside-out thru.

I chose to stitch in the ditch around the bottom, making sure to watch that the bottom layer was matching up with the top layer, although I was also not terribly concerned with them lining up because when I folded it up in the basket I can't see the seam anyway.

I then started quilting the sides together.

 

After I had all the sides diagonally quilted I decided I wanted more quilting on the bottom of the lining, so I did a line 1/4 inch from the edge, then another ~1 inch from that line.

 

 

And here's how the two sides turned out!

 

 

You can see where I tied the corners in place, weaving one of the ribbons through the basket and tying it to the other on that corner over the top of the rim of the basket.

 

And the bows on the corners add a nice touch of whimsy.

 

I had a lady suggest that a person may want to have an additional side added to one of the larger sides in order to help keep the cool/hot in the basket, to keep it from coming out the top.  In that case you would just add another piece using the measurements of the inside of the lid, and the layout would look as if you unfolded a cube into a cross-shape.  I chose not to do this on my basket because we weren't carrying things hot/cold in ours, but I can see how that would be nice!

 

Please let me know if you have any questions, thank you for visiting!

~Brandy