Picnic Basket Renovation

So one of my favorite things to do lately is go to Goodwill and search for treasures that I can fix or change or update in some way. I find walking up and down the aisles looking at everything cathartic and it's a great way to turn something someone didn't want into something lovely.

So you can imagine my excitement when I saw this small picnic basket for two dollars. It was ugly, it was tacky..it was actually kind of gross and dirty, but I saw potential...in short, I had to have it.

 After a quick wipe down with a damp cloth, I got to work disassembling the basket, which thankfully was easy.

 After that, I took out the fabric and used a seam ripper to remove the stitches holding the fabric together.

 I used the pieces of the fabric as a pattern for the new, better fabric...don't get me wrong..I like bears and all..but it was too much for me to handle.

 I laid the fabric down flat and traced around it with a water erasable pen.

 After I cut out the pieces, I ironed them.

 Then I pinned them together in the same way the original fabric was sewn.

 I used the basket as a guide for my pinning to make sure the pieces were going together correctly.

 Sewn.

 After I sewed them all together, I turned the edges under and finished them.

 Yay! Now to deal with the top. The wood was unfortunately not evenly cut and also not so pretty. So I decided a fabric top would be the best option.

 You can't see it, but I used an oval of muslin and some thin quilt batting and then hot glued the edges of the fabric to the underside of the wood.

 Aww, pretty.

 The underside was still ugly, so I covered it with a finished piece of matching fabric and hot glued that to the bottom.

 Alllll done. My basket was now pretty, but plain. I needed something extra.

So I ribbon embroidered a square of matching muslin and glued it to the top with fabric. Blueberries seemed appropriate for some reason.

And there you have it. A picnic basket that is just waiting for a warm day in spring.