How to line a vintage picnic basket

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This isn’t a repurpose, it’s more of a fix up of a vintage picnic basket.

My daughter Jamie was really wanting a vintage picnic basket. I was shopping at my favorite Peddler’s Mall, and found this one. I took a pic with my phone and sent the picture to her via e-mail. This basket was selling for about $13.00. She wasn’t really impressed.

I walked a little further, and found this sweet basket for $9.85. I sent her this picture, and immediately she texted me back, “get it”.

As the title states, I really don’t like to sew. I have never sewn a basket lining before. I made a prototype with this very inexpensive green fabric. One of Joey’s specials at $2.96 for about 5 yards. I turned the basket over, laid the fabric on the basket wrong side out, and pinned the heck out of it! I had pins everywhere. I then sewed it, and made some little ties for it. I also made a prototype for the cover of the lid.
I was a little nervous because she had bought designer fabric and I didn’t want to mess it up.

This is the finished product. Louie (the grandog) is checking it out to make sure his “mops” did a good job. If Louie were smaller or the basket larger, we could put him in there just like Toto on the Wizard of Oz. Louie spent about 6 weeks with me, because my daughter Jamie had a lot of travel plans. He has gone back home now, and I miss him. However, Miss Kitty and Matt Dillon may be glad he’s gone.

There was quite a bit of fabric that I cut off the parts that I pinned. Four corners, four pieces of fabric. I did a little hem in them for napkins. But after I made all four of them, I decided to use them in a different way. I sewed two of them together on 3 sides to use as a little pouch for paper plates and napkins. Another one, I folded over to make a pouch for plastic cutlery. I used adhesive Velcro on both so that the things wouldn’t spill out.

I padded the lid with cotton batting. While I was doing that, I noticed that there was a faint pencil marking of $1.89 on the lid. Apparently that is what it cost originally. At the last minute (the day before Jamie was arriving for a visit) I decided to make a divider shelf. I used a piece of hardboard, cut to fit the shape of the inside of the basket. I used a paddle bit to cut finger holes near the center to lift it out. I used dowel rods to have it raised about 4 inches off the bottom. I covered it with the printed fabric (lid). To do this, I used spray adhesive that works great, just try not to get it on your hands! When I do get it on my hands, I use baby oil to remove it.
After finishing the basket, I went to the Dollar Tree and bought all kinds of goodies to fill it.
  1. a journal
  2. salt and pepper
  3. cutlery
  4. plates and napkins
  5. sunscreen
  6. cork screw
  7. a small basket to put the cutlery in

Jamie was very happy with how it turned out. I hope that she has lots of fun on her picnic adventures!

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ABOUT GAIL WILSON - A teacher at heart, Gail Wilson relishes the chance not to show off her projects, but to help others find their inner handywoman, step-by-step. Her blog, MyRepurposedLife.com, chronicles her scrap-saving adventures and has been featured on countless DIY magazines and websites, including Women’s Day, Design*Sponge and Apartment Therapy. She is a longtime influencer for both Homeright and Gorrilla Glue. With a tribe of more than 450,000 followers, Gail is inspiring a new generation of DIYers to pick up some tools and get to work.

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Comments

  1. Proper Prim says

    September 14, 2009 at 6:02 pm

    Oh I bet your daughter was thrilled with the end result… it is gorgeous… I am sure she will treasure that for many years.

    Reply

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