Think I am exaggerating just a bit? A simple sewing storage problem solved and everything else in your world falls into place! Well not quite (that credit card bill is still there) but not exaggerating either- anyone who has suffered through the hell of not having any infrastructure in a sewing room will relate. Storage bins will change your life! Somewhere to put little things is not to be downplayed.

I also want to show you how to pretty much make these from what you have AND I want to show you how to make what you have go further. It is really a twofer- you will reduce your fabric and interfacing scraps pile (AKA cleaning up the sewing room) and you will make something pretty and useful. No losers here!

I love foam interfacing and hands down my favourite is Style-vil by Vlieseline. But it is a bit of a bother to join if you have a few smaller pieces (you know the sort, too big to throw away but not big enough to actually do anything with). None of our sewing bits and pieces are free after all. We want to squeeze every last drop of blood out of that stone!

This is a fat quarter friendly make (fabric wise) so it is a great time to use up some really pretty FQs. But don’t worry if all you have is scraps. They will be brilliant too as long as they are large enough to cover your foam.

But first, you will need two things from the interfacing pile

• some foam interfacing scraps
• some whisper thin fusible interfacing scraps. I am using G740 (also by Vlieseline) which has a cheesecloth like weight. This means that it will add minimal bulk and it is lovely and flexible. You do not want to choose a stiff interfacing for this project.

You will obviously need some fabric too (the fun bit) but we will tackle that a little later on.

We are not going to go with a pattern for this make (trust me, you will be okay and it is very simple) because everyone’s scraps will be a little different and I want to show you how to use what you have. You need your scraps of foam and we will concentrate on the base of the bin first. We need something round to draw around to get the bottom shape right. Have a look at what you have and then find something the right size that will fit onto the larger, squarer pieces. Dinner plates are particularly good.

So what is ‘the right size’? Well we don’t want to create even MORE waste so don’t go with a small ’round thing’ when a larger one would fit onto the interfacing better. Here is my point….this one fits but has lots of interfacing left over

Why not go with this one and use it all….

When you have found a good match, draw around the plate with a removable marker of some sort

Cut the circle out. So far, so good?

That is the base taken care of. Next we need sides for the bin. You will need a piece of foam that is about 3 1/2″ – 4″ tall and large enough to go around the circle plus 1/2″ for seam allowance. Don’t worry about the math of a circumference, simply hold the foam around the base and see if it fits

This one is good

This one needs work

On the good one, cut the foam to fit the circle and leave that 1/2″ which will become the seam allowance.

TIP: if you are nervous about the trimming, leave a little extra. You can always remove it later on when we check for the fit before sewing.

So what about the one that needed work? That is where the thin fusible interfacing comes in. We cannot sew foam nicely to join it because it is thick (sewing will add even more thickness which actually works in the seam but not in a join) and will form an unsightly ridge. But we can butt it together

And then iron some very, very thin interfacing scraps over the top to join it

Do that on both the back and the front of the strip to increase the length of the foam. Now fit it to the circle and trim as you did for the good one. That actually means that you can use those smaller scraps of valuable interfacing for many things. Further proof that you should never throw anything away until you have squeezed every drop of life out of it.

Fun bit next! Grab some nice fat quarters, some bias tape to match nicely and some scraps of some non-woven material like leather or cork fabric, vegan leather. You will need some thread and a leather hole punch or something similar too. The last need is actually not really necessary to make a beautiful bowl. I just like the extra addition.

Begin with the base circle interfacing. Lay it onto the wrong side of a piece of nicely pressed fabric that is about 1/2″ larger all around and baste the fabric to the foam very narrowly. When you do this, keep a gentle taut tension on the fabric but don’t allow it to pull or distort.

Trim the fabric to the size of the circle and grab another piece of fabric from your selection, also a bit larger and do exactly the same thing on the other side.

Trim the fabric. You now have a disk with fabric both sides and the right sides of both will be facing out

Time to bring the bin sides into play. Decide which side of the base disk will be the lining and which will be the exterior. Choose a piece of the exterior fabric that is about 1/2″ larger than your bin side and press it. Baste this exterior fabric to the bin side just as you did the base

Trim the fabric back to the foam and check the side for fit around the base disk. I tend to leave the ends untrimmed as you see in the photos. This helps the foam to lay a little flatter and gives me something just in case the foam has shifted during trimming and it is too small.

If it is too big, trim it a bit (remember to leave a 1/2″ seam allowance though) then sew the short end seam with the right sides together

TIP: this seam allowance is still actually 1/4″ as you find in most patterns. It works out to 1/2″ because you need to leave 1/4″ on both ends of the bin side and this adds up to 1/2″.

You will now have a sort of loop of interfaced exterior fabric like this

Make tiny snips (keep these inside the seam allowance at a scant 1/8″) all along the bottom edge of the side. ‘Bottom edge’ is only important if you have a strongly directional print fabric. Otherwise, whichever edge you snip is now the bottom edge

With the right sides together, fit the side onto the base (those snips help a non-bias straight bit fit neatly around that curve) and pin or clip. Sew the side onto the base. Notch the base curve. This removes about half of the fabric and encourages the base to sit nicely

Time to have another rummage in the scrap bin. You need a piece for the side lining which measures the same as the side exterior circumference in length x 4 1/2″ tall. If you are not making the side 4″ tall (and you don’t have to) simply measure the height of the side and add a 1/2″. My tip to get the lining right is to measure the length around the plate or whatever you used to cut the original base circle. The lining needs to be slightly smaller than the outer and if you measure it around the basket as it is now with all that bulky foam there, it will be too big. This can make the difference between a scrap that you thought was too small but really wasn’t.

TIP: and what happens if your lining is too short to go around the circumference? Well we are working with scraps after all! The answer is simple, join the strip until it IS long enough.

Cut your piece of lining and sew the small back seam with the right sides together. Press the seam open and fit the lining into the bin and if it is too big, increase the seam allowance until you get a snug fit

When you are happy, pin or clip the lining into the bin with the wrong sides together

Sew that top seam, flip the layers the right way out and then bind the raw edge with your bias tape

I like to sew the first half of the bias tape by machine and finish it off on the other side by hand. You can do both by machine if that is your super power. If you need a bit more help with making and using bias binding (bias tape) you can find it right here. This is handy to know if you don’t have any scraps of tape.

Now we only have to get rid of the raw edge inside around the base of the bin. To do that, check how long the sides of the lining have to sit for a lovely smooth fit and fold the lining edge to the wrong side until it sits nicely (usually between 3/8″ and 1/2″ fold over) and finger press

Then hand sew the bottom edge of the lining to the base. This is a great time to practice your hand sewing skills because if you are not confident with your stitching, it will be hidden in the bottom of the basket

Finally, we need to (well I need to) fuss a bit more and add an embellishment. For me, this is always a leather scrap with either a rivet (good use for one or two of those left over from a packet) or some simple stitching. Cut the leather or other non-woven to about 1″ wide x about 2″- 3″ long. Fold this over the side and glue it into place. When it is dry, punch two or four holes in it

Then stitch something into the holes. I love perle cotton (anchor or DMC) for this. It has a nice texture and great colours

That’s it! You have made a storage bin AND used some scraps of interfacing and fabric. Make more now using the same ‘formula’. These make great gifts and market sellers too.

It feels like pure profit in a way because you are making them from things that would normally be thrown away or just left in the bottom of the scrap bin for archaeologists to find in the future. All I ask is that you credit me as the designer and good luck with sales!

Before I go, I just have to give you an exclusive sneak peak of my new bag pattern coming out very soon. It is the Paris Crossbody and it will be available very soon indeed (link coming soon). And can I let you in on a little secret? I actually showed this bag in my last post but it was a long time ago (at least it feels that way to me) but I had a run- in with COVID in the meantime. Getting over that and catching up on everything else has taken quite a while. Ah well, things take as long as they take sometimes. Hopefully it will be worth the wait!

While you are waiting though, do have a look in my shop at the other patterns. You can find them under the Shop My Patterns button on the top menu. And I have something new and exciting just for you- I am offering a special discount for my blog readers only…

Thank you so much for stopping by and making with me today.

‘Til next time, hugs

Debbie xx