Easy shabby basket ... Tutorial

  Since I sell a lot of lavender bunches I am always looking for containers to put them in.  Tall containers can be difficult to find and when you do find them they are usually expensive. When I found tomato cages on sale at Big Lots 90% off  how could I resist?  I knew I could make some pretty baskets and fairly inexpensively too.
Here is what you will need for the project:
Tomato cage
8" cake pan from Dollar Tree
Marker
Wire cutters (medium to large) or small hand saw 
Pliers
Ice Pick
Hammer
Paint if desired, I recommend if using fabric, would leave plain if using chicken wire or rustic material
Fabric ... I used a thin muslin, it was a remnant I had left over, approximately a yard wide and 3 yds. 4" (112") long
I ripped the muslin into 21 strips approx. 2" by 43" to use vertically and then 8 strips approx. 3 1/2" w  by  43" long for the horizontal, you will have more end left over at the bottom of the horizontal strips and it will make a larger rose.
Needle and thread or glue

Tomato cage, cake pan, round wood plaque, optional Ginger kitty

I was going to use a wooden bottom, but then you need a hand drill so I decided to go with the cake pan.  Ginger Kitty is optional and really useless except for the cute factor.
Using wire cutters, cut ends of cage down to approx. 5" (It helps to have someone with strong hands do this for you) If you can't do it with the wire cutters, try using a small hand saw. Place the cage on top of the cake pan, center it and make a small mark in front of the wire.  Using the ice pick, gently hammer it through cake pan just behind  the marks. You may need to move the ice pick around in the hole just a little bit.

Push the cage through the pan and up to the first ring.  You can spray paint the whole thing now, make sure you push cake pan down so you don't have it dry on the ring, or wait until you are further along.  I moved along because I didn't want to wait :)

You can easily bend the wires up along the side of the pan by hand. Then take pliers and turn the wires in to a little curl.

 This is when I decided it was time to paint. I pulled the curls out a bit, pushed  the cake pan down a bit and spray painted all around. After the paint dried I started tying the muslin strips vertically.  Where each vertical metal rod was, I placed the strip as close as possible and tied it over the top of the metal rod.

I used seven vertical strips in each section, 2" wide and 43" long. Placed them under the first ring, pulled them up and then tied them at the top ring.

Once I had all the vertical strips finished, I pulled the bottom wire tightly back into the curl, you can do this by hand or with the pliers.

Then I started weaving the horizontal strips over and under.  I tried to make sure the strips ended up over the horizontal metal rods, then tied them.  If you want to do roses, triple knot them because they will be larger roses and that makes a bigger center.

I decided to make roses out of the hanging muslin strips at the top and sides.  I added extra roses in between to cover the rim.To do this I just tied on additional strips, knotted them and wound into roses.  You could make bows or cut them and fringe them or?
Muslin roses are very easy to make.  Tie your knots in the center, double knot or triple, then take one side, fold in half  and wind it around the knot, secure it with glue or thread.   Take the other side, bring it around the first side and secure again.  You can vary how your roses look by the width of the strips,how you turn the fabric or by how you sew or glue it.

The knotted strip shown above is approximately 16" long and 2" wide. It will make a finished rose of about 1".
If you want a larger rose, add a wider muslin strip.   Depending on how much work you want to put into this you could make roses and put them allll over the basket.
   This basket would be good for holding wrapping paper, umbrellas, canes ... what else can you think of?   It would look great using chicken wire, rope, burlap, flashing tin, a pretty patterned sheet or other material.  I'm betting you can think of lots of things to use on it and lots of ways to use it as well.

  Cost for this project, if you have to buy the items is under $6.00 (not counting paint).  It was about $1.30 for me because I had the fabric and paint.
Hope you will find this project fun and useful.  If you want to share this on your blog or any other place, please give a link back to my blog.
Joining Linda and many other creative folks at  Thrifty Nifty Tuesday , Kristen's Tuesdays Treasures,  Pattie at What's it Wednesday   SJ at Creative-bloggers-party-hop,    Cindy's Show and Tell Friday , KerryAnne's Shabbilicious Friday Link Party.
 Thanks for stopping by and I appreciate your visit and comments.   Until next time, ya'll bee sweet and come back soon.