Sew Amazing Fabric Storage Baskets that Fold Up!

This free sewing utorial will show you how to sew storage baskets out of fabric. Organize your home (and life!) with these fabric storage bins. They fit perfectly in Ikea cubby shelves, and fold up when not in use!

I first started using them to hold different types of fabric in my sewing room and then discovered that they are great for scraps. I also love having a few in my bathroom for holding clean towels, toilet paper rolls, and reading materials.

This blog post has been converted to an optional PDF that’s optimized for printing. Find it here. The blog post below is totally free to read, print, and sew! Just hit CTRL +P on your computer to print. The PDF download is inexpensive and optional. Of course, if you already own my PDF library of Optimized for Printing files, you can find it there, too.

The Fat Quarter Sized Fold Up Baskets that I showed you how to make are helping me keep my sewing room organized by holding patterns, pom-pom trim, and an in-progress quilt! It was only a matter of time before I decided to make bigger fabric storage baskets like these.

And don’t miss my other free sewing tutorials for mini fold up baskets too (3’’ tall x 4’’ wide and x 6’’ long).

Many thanks to Fabric.com for providing the materials for this new sewing tutorial…

10” x 10” x 12” fabric storage baskets that I quickly put to work in our Ikea cubbies!

I used 3 yards of beautiful Rifle Paper Co. canvas, which coordinated sweetly with 3 yards of Premier Prints Buffalo Check fabric. Did you know that the fabric baskets are reversible? Just like the FQ sized fabric storage baskets, these have Peltex 72F on the inside to make them very sturdy.

Look how easily they store big bath towels! I decided to use one in my bedroom for a pretty laundry basket too.

So who is ready for the sewing tutorial??? Note: Because these baskets are so large, in some instances it was hard for me to photograph the entire piece. I suggest you also read my FQ sized basket tutorial before getting started.

Amazign Fabric Storage Basket Sewing Tutorial

You will need:

• 2 coordinating yards of fabric for the basket exterior and interior (I used home decor weight fabrics from fabric.com)
• 2 yards of ultra sturdy double sided fusible stabilizer Peltex 72F*
• a fabric marking pen or pencil
• No Fray Spray or Fray Stop to help reduce fraying (see below for more information)

*Note: You will only use 1 1/2 yards of Peltex for each fabric storage basket, but since the pieces must be cut lengthwise, you will need to buy 2 yards if you are only making 1 basket. I suggest making 2 baskets at a time since that requires only 3 yards with very little waste!

Cutting:

• From the 2 yards of fabric, cut 2 rectangles 30” x 32”
• From the Peltex 72F, cut 3 rectangles 10” x 32”

By cutting the Peltex into 3 10” tall strips, you will create natural crease lines just where you need them. Then you’ll use your sewing machine to create the 2 other needed crease lines.

Fusing:

1. Lay one of the Peltex strips across the top of one of the fabric pieces on the wrong side. Pin it at the corners, if necessary.

2. Carefully flip the fabric over and use a hot dry iron to fuse the stabilizer in place. I found that if I did not use steam, the other side of the double sided fusible stabilizer didn’t stick to my ironing board.

Don’t worry if the fabric isn’t 100% fused at this point. Just smooth it out and fuse it most of the way.

2. Place a second strip of stabilizer just under the first one and pin it in place at the edges, if necessary. Then flip the fabric over again and fuse the stabilizer in place.

3. After the second piece is fused, lay the last piece of stabilizer at the bottom and fuse it in place. The back of the entire piece of fabric should now be covered by stabilizer.

4. Carefully position the other piece of fabric over the stabilizer and press to fuse it in place.

Now you can use lots of steam, pressing from both sides to make sure that both pieces of fabric are 100% fused to the Peltex.

Trimming, Marking, & Sewing the Basket:

1. Trim away just as much as you need to so that the edges are even and the stabilizer is only showing when you look at it from the edge. Try not to trim away too much, since this makes the basket smaller.

2. Using the fabric pen or pencil (make sure the ink will disappear later), draw a line 10” away from each edge. The picture on the right above is from the other tutorial for clarity.

3. Sew along the shorter vertical lines so that the basket will fold nicely.

The longer horizontal lines should be along the groove lines where the pieces of stabilizer butt up against each other in between the fabric layers. You could sew along these lines if you want, but I didn’t feel like it was necessary.

4. At the sides, cut right over your horizontal lines until you reach the vertical lines of stitching. Stop cutting before you cut into the vertical lines to make the center flap. Then cut again 3/4” inside the first two lines to trim the center flap so it is only about 8 1/2” wide. Cut at an angle at the corner to meet the first cutting line. The second picture above is from the other tutorial for clarity.

5. On each of the corner flaps, draw horizontal lines that are 2 1/2” away from the top and bottom edges of the flap and 1/2” away from the sides of the flap.

The picture on the above right shows where to draw the horizontal lines on the flaps, but it was before I cut and trimmed the center flaps. I changed the order a bit when I was sewing the big baskets.

6. With the edges all trimmed and cut, spray them with No Fray Spray or Fray Stop to help reduce fraying. The Fray Stop product was suggested to me by a reader in the comments of the other basket tutorial, and it was a fabulous idea! I’m so grateful she spoke up, because I had never heard of it. A quick search on Amazon pulled up these 2 products and I ordered both to try. They both work pretty well and don’t change the feel or appearance of the basket at all. I think the first one, No Fray Spray, works slightly better, but it’s really hard to tell!

Work in a well ventilated area or go outside if the smell bothers you – it’s a lot like spray adhesive.

7. Sew around the basket edges. The bigger baskets are bulky to work with (and kept knocking my glasses off, lol) so I went with a simple straight stitch about 1/8” from the edge. See the FQ sized basket tutorial for other edge options.

8. Also sew around the lines that you drew for the slots, 1/8” from each line like a big buttonhole.

9. Cut open the slots along the lines, being careful not to cut the stitching. I used my rotary cutter to get each one started and then finished up with scissors.

10. Spray the edges of each slot with no fray spray, if desired. At this point I gave all the other edges a second coat of spray too. Now they don’t fray at all, it’s amazing!

To use the basket, fold two corner flaps together, and weave the trimmed flap up through the slots on both at the same time. Repeat on the other side.

Now find the perfect spot to use your new baskets!

Addendum:

In case you noticed, these are a bit smaller than the baskets they sell at Ikea to fit in the cubbies. My reasoning for making the baskets only 10” tall is this: to make the baskets 12” tall (like the Ikea baskets), you’d need to buy over 3 yards of Peltex stabilizer and there would be lots of it wasted. This is because the double sided fusible Peltex that is most widely available is only 20” wide. I would rather be able to make twice as many baskets with the same amount of stabilizer and have no waste at all.

If you don’t care about the cost and you insist on having baskets that are 12” x 12” x 13” (not exactly the same size as Ikea baskets, but close), cut these pieces:

• From the 2 yards of fabric, cut 2 rectangles 36” x 37”
• From the Peltex 72F, cut 3 rectangles 12” x 37”

Follow the tutorial as written above, except draw your long horizontal and vertical lines 12” from the edges instead of 10” from the edges. I would also draw the lines for the slots 3” from the flap top and bottom edges instead of 2 1/2” from the edges to maintain the same visual balance. Let me know how it works out.

Happy Sewing – and thanks again to Fabric.com for making these big beautiful baskets possible!