Hi! I’m Amy Barickman, founder of Indygo Junction. I am so excited for this opportunity to reboot one of Jenny’s tutorials. I am lucky enough to be a neighbor of Missouri Star. My hometown, Kansas City, is about an hour from Hamilton. I have enjoyed collaborating with the MSQC team over the last year. Jenny invited me to film a tutorial on quilting with my Crossroads Denim. I have also been a guest on Man Sewing, creating a recycled denim messenger bag from jeans and recently Rob released our I LOVE My Mummy pattern pillow tutorial. If you get a chance to visit the wonderful “Quilt Town” of Hamilton you will see a trunk show of our Indygo Junction apparel patterns in the main street stores. Yesterday my Missouri Star catalog arrived and our Fabriflair Radiant Star made the cover!!!
For the reboot I decided to combine the Love Notes block with our popular Indygo Junction Banded Baskets pattern. Since the body of the basket is pieced in sections, it was very simple to add patchwork- a perfect canvas to showcase blocks. The fabric we chose was my new RJR line Vintage Made Modern Stitcher’s Garden combined with Crossroads Denim Eggplant. Customize your basket with colors and fabrics to make a great gift or useful storage basket for your home!
To make the basket, I used both florals and a ginghams from my Stitcher’s Garden line, and my Crossroads Denim in Eggplant for the top band, bottom section and handles. You will also need a stiff interfacing, batting or stabilizer to give the basket some structure. Choose a coordinating thread for the topstitching.
Using Jenny’s tutorial, cut eight 5” squares of both the gingham and the floral for the blocks, and sew all around with a quarter inch seam. Then cut them diagonally to create four half square triangles and sew them together in a four-patch to create a ‘love note’.
Arrange all the blocks with the ‘envelope flap’ in the upper right corner and pressed the center seam up in half the blocks and the opposite way in the other half to nest the seams. The pattern uses 3/8” seams, you don’t want to lose the points in the blocks so use a quarter inch. Press the seams toward the denim and top stitch close to the seam on the denim side, just for a little more reinforcement.
After sewing the blocks together in a row, it measured 5.75” x 44”. Since the pattern calls for a 44” long body of the basket, it worked perfectly without adjustment.
If your seams are a bit scant or more generous than a quarter inch, your measurement may be a bit more or less. If you need to, you can add a bit of sashing at the end to bring it up to size, or adjust the other pieces to whatever your length is. (Just remember to adjust the lining dimensions, too!)
Based on the height of your block row, you will need to do a bit of math to determine how wide to cut the strip for the bottom of the basket body. In making the large basket, the piece below the band (the pattern refers to it as the bottom) needs to be 12” tall. Since my block is 5.75, I need a strip 6.25 plus a half-inch for seam allowance to have a 12” piece after I sew them together.
Sew the basket band onto the top of the row of blocks and the basket bottom onto the bottom of the pieced row to complete the outer basket body!
Follow the directions as written in the pattern to construct the rest of the basket.
Just for fun, I decided to miniaturize the block by starting with a 2.5” square to make the patchwork inset in the small basket. (Pin for scale in the photo).
I love this combination of Stitcher’s Garden Prints! Also note that the fabric line has a signature collage print, “cheater” type fabric.
Eleven blocks was exactly the correct length when sewn together. Again, border the print fabric with strips of Crossroads Denim and add a print fabric to bring the total to the correct height for the outer basket.
This is a fun & easy way to add a new dimension of quilting to your home. I love the idea of making a basket to companion a quilt for gift giving and Chloe our cat does too!! Keep in mind you can use almost any block along this border in this versatile Banded Baskets pattern! Enjoy.
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