Love the flexility of Essex (cotton linen blend) fabric for so many different reasons, but the ability to use it with several types of sewing projects makes it one of my all-time faves. In this case, it’s perfect for a home-dec type project like this Divided Basket. Speaking of making lots of samples of a project, I think the Divided Basket might be up there in the top 5 for me! I can’t count how many I’ve made.

They’re fun for gift giving, keeping organized, and trying new fabric combinations! I almost always make them for gifts. I love giving them as baby gifts, but I’ve seen so many creative gifting uses over the years. I think one of my favorites was seeing a kitchen bridal shower basket filled with kitchen towels and baking necessities.

Here are a few examples of the Divided Basket’s I’ve made over the years!
Gingham + Leather Divided Basket
Butterfly Divided Basket
Springy Divided Basket
Goodnight Moon Divided Basket
Briar Rose Divided Basket

Anyway, I had fun making this Divided Basket a few times using Driftless. The main exterior fabric is this Railroad Denim from Robert Kaufman. It’s such a nice weight and texture! I’m not sure I used it before this, but I definitely need some more! Of course I almost always love anything that’s denim or chambray, so go figure. Do you have a go to substrate?

Over the next few weeks I’ll be filming a complete video of how to make the Divided Basket, it’ll be available in my shop as soon as it’s ready. I’m excited since it’s one of my favorite projects to make! I’m announcing it here because it’ll give me some accountability to get it going!

Pattern: Divided Basket
Fabrics: Algea and Water Flower from Driftless, Railroad Denim

Front

Back

One of my all-time favorite projects with binding is the Maker’s Tote. I know binding can be one of those love it or hate it steps in a project. Fortunately for me I’m on the love it side.

I do have a video of some of the steps of this pattern (click here for the link, it’s about three quarter of the way down in the blog post), I think it’s very helpful if you’re at all intimidated by this project. Sometimes just being able to visually see someone sew through the steps makes it seems more doable, right?! One of my big goals for this year is to make some more videos for my patterns. I hope that is something that will be helpful! Video isn’t something that comes easily to me so far, but I am ready to tackle it. I think I’m going to start with the Divided Basket pattern. It’s a fun one to sew and I think some extra visuals of making the divided lining will be fun! I’m waiting until I recover from being sick, but after that keep an eye out!

This is the mini size of the pattern, and I just love it when I see people filling theirs up with all their crafting supplies. Seeing them get used is my favorite part! I’ve had fun making a bunch since the pattern was released. I really love the shape of this bag plus the ability to combine lots of different fabrics. It’s fun to try different ideas. Here’s a few that I’ve had a fun time making:

Mesa Maker’s Tote

Sheepy Maker’s Tote

Summer Maker’s Tote

Detective Maker’s Tote

Handcrafted Fabric Maker’s Tote

I used my Water Flower print and paired it with the Algea and Butterfly Weed for the lining fabrics. The binding is Interweave Chambray, sorry if I talk about this one all the time, but it’s really such a good staple!

Pattern: Maker’s Tote
Fabrics: Water Flower, Algea, and Butterfly Weed print from my newest fabric collection, Driftless

This might be one of my favorites from my Driftless samples. I haven’t decided yet though. I think the simplicity of the Crescent Tote is always refreshing to my eye. Even though I love lots of details, I think the extra clean lines of the Crescent look great in so many different fabrics. Seeing so many beautiful versions of the Crescent definitely solidifies that for me!

When I’m pulling fabrics for samples, a two fabric project can sometimes be intimidating for me. Only two fabrics?! There are so many possibilities! So I usually flip through my stack and see what strikes my eye first. Auditioning fabric has to be one of my favorite parts of sewing. It can also be stressful, especially when you have to make quick decisions. Sometimes I’ll grab a sample that I’ve already made and drape the fabric around the sample. I’ll even use some pins and step back and squint to get a better idea how something will look if I don’t feel confident just looking at what I’ve selected. Very technical, I know.

This Crescent felt just right using the Downstream print from Driftless. I loved pairing it with the warm peachy Loon print for the lining. Someday I’d love to make a wall of Crescent Totes in all the different prints! Now that sounds like a fun project!

Lastly, I finally listed a few packs of zipper pulls in my shop. Right now I’m stocking this lovely natural color that I’ve been obsessed with lately, but hope to add in some others in the near future. Also, I’ve been meaning to ask, would anyone be interested if I were to add the cotton webbing by the yard to my shop? I have two colors that I use for other kits (natural and black). Let me know in the comments below. It would be great for the Crescent Tote and then also for a new pattern coming up next month!

Pattern: Crescent Tote
Fabric: Driftless: Loon and Water Lily
Zippers are in my shop (6″ is here, and 8″ is here)