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Summer Seascape Macramé Cord Basket

Summer by the sea in the UK or further afield is a popular destination for a lot of people. The joy of these baskets is that they fold flat to take away on holiday to keep all your summer essentials in, can be handwashed for spillages, and at the same time look pretty to cheer up any staycation.

You will need:

  • Chunky macramé cotton cord – blue, cream, mustard
  • Sewing machine
  • Large spool of thread
  • Thin strips of fabric (I used batik and velvet)
  • Small lengths of crochet lace
  • Pompom trim
  • Embroidery hoop
  • Cream cotton fabric
  • Embroidery threads
  • 1cm wooden beads with large hole

You will use a lot of thread; before you start, fill 2-3 bobbin spools to prevent stopping to refill. Keep checking you haven’t run out of thread and continued sewing on unknowingly. Trim loose threads as you go. Let the cord run smoothly through your fingers. Use a small/medium zigzag stitch size throughout; have a quick practice to gauge the size. I started with the blue cord, changed to cream, changed to mustard and back to cream to give a seascape colourway.

To make:

Start a small coil, sewing a few lines across the coil to secure. You can then start sewing round, feeding the cord through your fingers and keeping the edges close together to join. Continue making a flat coil until it is 6-10cm in diameter. If you spot any openings break off the thread and sew over. It is much easier to do this as you spot them.

Shape the sides by lifting the left side and continue sewing round as before. The higher the angle, the steeper the sides. Change the cord colour by cutting and joining in the new colour where wanted. You have the option of fabric wrapping the cord; cotton batik works very well for this. I also used crochet lace/velvet to create texture. When happy with the height of the sides, finish off with a sewn down loop or fold over the end and sew in. Another option is to finish off the brim with pompom trim. In each case, I covered the join with a fabric tab to neaten.

For the ‘shells,’ bring the embroidery thread through the back of the cotton fabric, up the hole of the bead and back into the fabric to create a spoke. Add more spokes in this way, finishing with the thread coming up through the top of the bead. Weave the remaining thread around the spokes, as shown in the centre image above. Change the thread colour to be as realistic or non-realistic as you like. When completely filled in, zigzag sew around the shell edges to fully secure. Trim and zigzag sew onto your basket.

The same techniques can be used to make placemats and coasters if you don’t want to attempt the shaped basket.

Gillian Cain, Bowes Belles WI, Tyne & Wear South Federation
https://www.facebook.com/gillcrafts