DIY Easter basket

      It's almost Easter, yes already I know!!!  Are you ready??  I thought since this will be the first year my son Gavin will actually be able to Easter egg hunt he needed a cute little basket.  Yay, Craft time for mommy :o)  While looking for ideas on the Internet I came across this web site http://furoshiki.com/.  I thought to myself what a fabulous idea for an Easter basket.  Not only is it simple enough for anyone to do, it is a no-sew project as well and you most likely will have all the supplies needed on hand.  Here is what you will need:

• old basket or bowl of desired size (handles removed)
• square piece of fabric:  Fabric should be large enough to cover your bowl when placed in the center of the fabric and folding opposite corners over the bowl (and remember the fabric will be pressed to the bottom to cover the inside).  I used a yard of fabric and worked fine, but a large colorful spring scarf would work nicely as well. 
• colorful tissue paper (optional)
• Easter Goodies

To start off with you will need a nice large work space to spreed out your fabric wrong side up.  Place your basket/bowl in the middle of the fabric with the sides you wish to have your handles on facing the corners and the front of the basket facing towards you.

Then fold your front and back corners (overlapping) into the basket while making sure to work each corner of fabric down into the basket as flat as you can.

•  If, like me, your using an unfinished piece of fabric, your not going to want those loose edges showing.  To avoid this I simply folded my corners flat towards the basket to give me a strait edge and then folded them over the basket and tucked them down.  Otherwise you can skip this little step, it's purely personal preference.

Your basket should start to resemble something like this......

Now time for the fun part :o)  Your going to tie each side of the fabric into a knot near the top edge of the basket.  Carefully gather, while tucking a little if you prefer a more tailored look, and twist it a bit to get a nice tight knot.

After you've tied both sides it should start to look like a basket again.  The first time I did this I had to fiddle with the knots a bit to get them to look the way I wanted. 

Almost done,  now this can be a little tricky.  Wish I had that third arm!!  Any who, to make your handles simply twist the fabric starting at the knot and working your way up.  Once you've done this on both sides tie in a nice tight knot on the top. Then fluff the ends to resemble a bow.  Just a note, I've found the handle to have better support if you twist one side forward and one side backwards.  Make sure not to twist them too tight or too loose.  You'll either end up with a droopy handle or a twisted one. 

Now your old basket/bowl has been transformed into a cute little basket!  Time for the fun part.  I lined mine with some flirty tissue paper and stuffed it with matching Easter grass. 

Then all you have to do is add your Easter goodies.  I hope this was as fun for you as it was for me.  If you need some more illustrated pictures on how to fold and knot this basket click here. 

If you missed the first link here it is again, http://furoshiki.com/techniques/.  Check it out, you'd be surprised what you can make from a square piece of fabric ( some very cute purses as well).  And the best part is, if you want a different look or don't need what you've made anymore you simply untie and make something new!