SUPPLIES & TOOLS:
- 3 spools of large soft cotton rope, 25' feet per spool
- Rit® Dye in color of choice
- Can of fabric spray in coordinating color
- Hot glue gun/high temp glue sticks
- Bottle fabric stiffener
- Medium paintbrush
- Set of purse handles
- Wastebasket or form to create the body of your basket
- Scissors
- Needle & thread to match the top color of your basket
DIRECTIONS:
- Starting with the very middle of the base, twist the rope in a small flat circle. Hot glue it together. Continue to spiral the rope around and hot glue it together at the seams. Continue this until you have made the base of your basket as big as you want it to be.
- Place it onto the waste basket form and continue to glue the next spiral row around the basket.
- Do this until you have reached the desired height of the basket.
- With the rope basket on the wastebasket frame or form, apply the Rit dye to the front surface with a sponge. Let it dry.
- You may need to spray on top of the dyed area with your fabric spray paint to get into all of the cracks.
- Let it dry.
- Apply Fabric softener to the entire surface of the basket. Let it dry.
- Apply a second coat of stiffener and let it dry.
- Attach the purse handles to the inside of the basket exactly on opposite sides with your needle and thread.
JOANN Hacks:
- Some people find it easier to put the rope on working from the bottom up.
- Press the hot glued rope for a few seconds to give it a tight bond. Make sure you don't use too much glue. Only on the top side of the rope where it will be hitting the next layer above.
- Every time you start a new piece of rope, glue the previous one flat to the piece below and the then overlap starting the next new spool of rope.