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


Amanda at The Patchsmith


Amy  at Amy Made That!



Amy  at Amy Made That!



Susie at Susie's Sunroom


Susie at Susie's Sunroom



and our Flickr group  .  Add your picture to the group!  
Baskets make a cute gift for Mother's Day....


I'm off to my sewing room!



8 comments:

  1. You did an excellent job at both of these! They really turned out great. I particularly love the paper pieced mixer :) Oh, and your box improv was too funny, Susie!

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  2. so cute! I want to make a cover for my mixer now. I'm glad I found you at Better off thread.

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  3. Such a pretty kitchen set - they look great! The taped together boxes did the trick! ;)

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  4. Wow .. Great job ! You really your your thinking hat on !

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  5. How fantastic.
    Such a great idea to cover boxes.
    I love it xxxx

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  6. SUper attention to detail with the linings as well as the outside. love the kitchen aid cover!

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