Tutorial: Picnic basket liner with pockets

 

Hello, Delia asked me to participate in Color My Summer this month and I am super excited to share my tutorial with you!  

I am going to show you how to make this cute picnic basket liner. :) I'd had this idea for a long time and I'm happy to finally have it come to fruition! For more on why I chose yellow, check out my intro over on Delia's blog.

One of my favorite parts about this picnic basket liner is that it has huge pockets!  Seriously, the largest pocket is big enough to hold an entire loaf of bread! :) The smallest pocket is just the right size for silverware, and I made sure the rest of the pockets were big enough to fit our cups.

Here is a list of everything I fit in the basket for our little picnic.

• 2 plates, but it could easily fit four. (in center of basket)
• Bag of spinach (on op of plates)
• Salad dressing
• Silverware
• Bread loaf
• Peanut butter
• Jelly
• Bag of baby carrots
• 2 glass cups 

Now that's a heck of a lot of stuff! I am so excited that I'm already planning our next picnic!

 Lets get started.

Here is what I used:

• 1 bushel basket.
• 1 piece of 60in x 17in piece of yellow gingham for the liner.
• 1 piece of 60in x 10in piece of vintage floral for the pockets.
• 14in x 14in  piece of yellow gingham for the bottom. (this will eventually be cut into a circle)
• Bias tape. (Made from left over fabric from another project. I used Dana's tutorial.)
• Yellow thread.

Step 1: Okay, the first thing you want to do is sew a zigzag stitch on all the raw edges of your fabric.

I didn't do this at first and I had fraying and threads everywhere, so I did it at the end, which ended up being a little difficult; so I recommend doing it before you start anything else. 

(Also don't forget to zigzag around the bottom piece after you cut it into a circle.)

Step 2: Hem the top of the entire 60"x10" pocket piece and sew it at the bottom to the gingham liner piece. (see illustration below) (Remember don't sew at the top of the pocket piece or you won't be able to use the pockets. )

  Step 3: Sew the dividing lines for the pockets. I made my pockets different sizes, but you can make them any way you want. (To make sure I was sewing straight I flipped it over and followed lines in the gingham fabric.)

Step 4:  Fold fabric in half with right sides together, and sew the raw edges together to make a tube shape. (see illustration below)




Step 5: Cut 2 rounded notches on opposite sides of the top of the liner, to accommodate the handles on the basket. (see illustration below) These should measure about 5in deep and 4in wide.

Step 6: Sew bias tape around the top straight edges.

Next, sew bias tape around the handle cut outs leaving long strands for ties (see below). I cut two 40in lengths of bias tape and made sure the ties were equal length on both sides of the cut-out. 

(If you are new to bias tape see Dana's post on how to sew it on.)

 Step 7: Cut the 14x14in piece of fabric into a circle by folding it into fourths and cutting off the corners. I drew a dotted line, (see illustration below) staying 7 inches from the center corner, and cut along the line. Super easy :) (Remember to zigzag the edges of the circle before you move on.)

Step 8: Gather bottom of tube piece in preparation to sew it to the circle...here's how: Without back-stitching, straight stitch along the bottom of the entire tube piece, leaving enough thread at the end to grab onto.

Next, pin the circle to the tube on four opposite sides (see illustration below). The idea is to equally distribute the extra fabric on the tube piece between the pins.

The next thing is to simply pull on one of the threads, and you will see it magically gather like a ruffle. Only pull until it's about the same size as the circle piece. (see illustration below)


Finally, finish pinning the gathered piece onto the circle piece, and straight-stitch them together like normal.
It's finished!  Put it in the basket and look at your glorious creation!

 There you go! Now go pack up all your deliciousness, pick the best sunny spot, and have a picnic! You don't even have to go very far to have an adventure; we had our picnic in the front yard!

We had a blast! It was such a nice day too! In fact we all got a little too much sun, so don't forget to pack the sun block! There's plenty of room for it in the basket thats for sure! :)

Thanks everyone for stopping by, (and thanks for inviting me, Delia)! This was so fun! :) Summer is the best, and I can't wait till it's here for real!! It is raining and cold right this very moment, and I just got freaked out by some seriously loud thunder!
Have a great rest of the week everyone, and have an awesome picnicking weekend ! :)

(The sticky tape and old photo frames I used are free downloads from fuzzimo.com)

What I am working on

Kojodesigns and Delia Creates are hosting an AWESOME group of bloggers this month for Color My Summer.

I am so excited to be a part of such a talented group! My color is yellow, so summery right?! Come back soon to see what I came up with!

Easter In Colorado

Since it was mothers day yesterday I thought it was fitting to showcase my mothers lovely Easter dinner party. 

 As you may already know a few weeks ago we hopped in the car for a road trip to see our families in C0olorado. On Easter Sunday my mom created four incredible table spreads as well as cooking a delicious meal of ziti pasta.She decorated each place setting with personalized chocolate dipped home made marshmallow eggs! These were the mos wonderful marshmallow I have ever tasted! Much of my family was there and It was a night filled with games and laughter.

 The room above is the sun room and it is so bright a cherry! In the center of the table is a beautiful little house. You can't tell from the pictures but it was made to be a bird house! The rest of the table covered with grass and colorful eggs. I think I am in love with those scalloped blue plates!

Above is the living room It was so romantic and pretty. My mom decorated this table with pink grass, budding spring branches, and giant paper mache chocolate bunnies that looked read enough to eat! We left the pom poms up from the boxed lunch picnic shower, since they were so pretty. This is the room where Trent and I ate, we loved it! :)

Easter baskets for all the grandchildren were filled with delicious home made confections such as: chocolate dipped marshmallow eggs, jello popcorn, pretty paper carrots filled with m&m's, and chocolate dipped peanut butter eggs! My sister D-llyn made the paper carrots and the peanut butter eggs. :) Thanks D-llyn those peanut butter eggs were THE BEST! I ate more than I am willing to tell  :)
The kid table was awesome (pictured above at the bottom right) It had a lovely spread of beautifully colored hard boiled eggs that the kids happily devoured while waiting for the main course.

In the dinning room the table was decorated with a beautiful garden of ivy. A ceramic cookie jar sat amidst a lush spread of live ivy. Beautiful! Later the teensy terracotta pots were filled with live flowers. (I took the photo too soon). Along with the personalized chocolate eggs each guest got a goody bag full of yummy treats!

Thanks you mom it turned out so awesome!

I love you mommy!

• Thank you for being my best friend!
• Thank you for giving me 8 more best friends! (my siblings!)
• Thank you for teaching me how to throw a real party!
• Thank you for teaching me whats right.
• Thank you for spending weeks meticulously sewing my prom dresses and wedding dress!
• Thank you for making my wedding reception be PERFECT! (and it was).
• Thank you for being a good example.
• Thank you for teaching me what is means to be a good mom!
• Thank you for teaching me to pray always!
• Thank you for teaching me to LOVE the scriptures!
• Thank you for shouting "I love my family" at the top of your lungs all the time growing up.
• Thank you for holding my had at church a few weeks ago!
• Thank you for being you! 

(Honestly, this list could go on forever!)
I love love love love you mom! XOXOXO


I hope you all had a great Mothers Day yesterday! 
Thanks for stopping by.

Cinco de Mayo FIESTA!

 I was so excited the other day when I saw Dana's EASY way of ruffling streamers! Sooo much easier then doing it my way thats for sure! I knew I wanted to have a Cinco de Mayo fiesta especially with Dana's streamers, and all the awesomeness I have seen from Confetti System. I went to work this afternoon and created a little fiesta in my dinning room!!!

 

 

Hope you have a great Cinco de mayo as well! :) Thanks for stopping by!!

Boxed lunch picnic party!!

 Ever since we decided to visit CO for Easter I knew I wanted to throw my big sister a surprise baby shower. I spent months dreaming up ideas, I really wanted it to be perfect. She is my oldest sister and has always been a role model of mine. :) As a girl whenever I felt crumby she was always there to pick me up and say something nice and encouraging to me. Seriously, I owe much of my self confidence to her! Love you D-llyn!   Since she is expecting her fifth child I felt she needed a huge party! But instead of the traditional baby shower I wanted to celebrate her, so I decided to call it a mommy shower! I was really wanting to do a picnic party on the grass but it was FREEZING that day so we did it inside. :) I think it turned out so pretty, maybe even better than if it had been outside. 

The decorations were a collection of the prettiest pink pom poms ever and the cutest confetti garland. My sister Annie Carie made the pom poms using Martha's method, and made the confetti garland by punching circles out of card stock and sewing them together. They really made it feel like a party. We loved them so much we left them up till Easter, and might be there still. :) Since I love origami boxes I knew I had to incorporate them into the party some how. When I was brainstorming with  Annie Carie, & she mentioned doing boxed lunches, I just about screamed! Origami boxed lunches, it was meant to be! And I had just the right wallpaper for the job too, yellow gingham! I decorated each box with a tissue paper sash that was held closed with a clothes pin, and the name tags were made using my easy DIY doily instructions.

First we all yelled "Surprise!", then we sat down to eat our boxed lunches.  Each of the boxes was stuffed full of these goodies: a ham sandwich, an orange, a strawberry cupcake, & 2  powdered sugar doughnuts. So Yummy!! Next we played a candy guessing game. It was full of fun and laughter. I was terrible at guessing but somehow got candy anyway. ;)

Because the yellow and pink color scheme reminded me of pink lemonade, that's what I planned to drink. All they had at the store was kiwi strawberry, still yummy though. I used my moms cute white pot to put the drinks on ice. Isn't it the best? I want one just like it!  We had such a fun time! 

Hope you had a great Easter I'll post photos of ours soon, my mom always makes the best table-scapes. Thanks for stopping by.