I’ve long admired the many baby shower gifts I’ve seen on blog land using Noodlehead’s (Anna Graham) Divided Basket pattern. As you can see it is a sturdy and spacious basket just perfect for holding baby paraphernalia.   With the  new arrival of a baby girl this seemed a perfect gift.

The great thing about doing a popular design is you can look at all the many examples and choose what you think will work best. I loved those with striped fabric  and those baskets with the pocket feature. As ever Anna’s pattern was a cinch to follow and a quick make. Admittedly the first one, what with the pattern cutting out etc, takes longer but the second would be even quicker. I’m trying to think of  a reason to make another…..

When I do do another one it’s worth noting what I’d do differently.  In the main I’m happy with it but there are some tweaks. Interfacing is absolutely key with this design. The pattern instructions suggest two different types neither of which I had so I used Annie’s Soft and Stable interfacing following this excellent post my Mrs H, bag designer and maker extraordinaire.  This product is relatively  expensive at £16 per 1/2 yard but to be fair the interfacing element of this bag was probably only £3/4. It’s 4mm thick and is like a thin layer of foam covered with material. Whilst it certainly gives structure it’s bulky and I tried to cut away the seam allowance, which is 1/2″, but as you can see it didn’t always leave a neat finish. Must try harder harder next time!   I may try actually sewing on the pattern piece onto the fabric say at 3/4″ and baste it that way.

The other much easier tweak is this time to follow the pattern and make the handles more stiff. I thought they would look better in a more relaxed pose. I was wrong.

The post by Mrs H does flag up for me the incomprehensible world of interfacing. I’ve used many types….some on their own, some in combination with others. I always seem to be searching for the holy grail! It doesn’t help that of course interfacing gives the article a certain feel which you can’t see in a picture. I think the answer is probably, as Mrs H has done, is do an example set of one pattern with different products and see which works best. I’m going to spend some time at the Festival of Quilts looking at the stands of the various  interfacing manufacturers. And I may order some of the Headliner fabric Mrs H talks about. It would be great to have interfacings that become my-go-to interfacings of choice as opposed to the rather hit and miss approach I take at the moment.

This is a finish on my Q3 FAL list first blogged here

Linking up with Lorna of Sew Fresh Quilts and Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts.