Extra Large Podlet Fabric Basket

I wanted to make a large basket to hold my wool balls that I use in the dryer when drying clothes (in lieu of fabric softener). I was using the large size Podlet basket (Free pattern by Spencer Ogg) that I made to hold the wool balls, but it wasn't large enough, so I experimented in making an extra large size Podlet. It came out larger than needed, so I also toss in my mittens and hats and scarf in the basket this time of year too. The basket sits on top of my dryer.

Since I wasn't sure what size to make, I doubled the measurements of the large Podlet, but after fusing the interfacing on the back pieces and noticing my cutting wasn't quite straight, I trimmed the pieces down enough to make them all the same size, so it wasn't quite double size, but close. 

After making this size basket, the basket wasn't quite as rigid as I would like. I think that was due to this larger size and that I used woven cotton interfacing only. Because of how this basket is constructed, I couldn't really add a heavier stabilizer to it or it wouldn't fold or would be too thick in the seams to sew. I decided to add rivets to all four corners to help to keep the shape of the basket a bit. That helped, but still not perfect. Oh well, it does the job and was so quick and easy to make.

I have seen people on the Spencer Ogg Facebook Group show off their Podlets of various sizes and some have made huge Podlet baskets, so I thought this one I made would be fine. Maybe they used stiff material or different interfacing? 

My extra large basket measures 12" wide x 7" high x 6" deep.

Lots of room in this basket.

If you look closely at this fabric, you will see there is a direction to the fabric. The stem and leaves are the main thing that have a direction. So I had to cut the fabric in half and place them in the correct orientation, but I didn't quite have enough fabric so....

...I had to sew a strip of blue fabric on the bottom. Now the leaves and stems will be the correct way on both sides of the basket and not upside down on one side.

The wool balls, hats and a scarf fit into this basket that lives on top of my dryer.

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Podlets & Orange You Glad Blog Hop

Thanks to Carla (of Creatin' in the Sticks) for hosting this blog hop. This is all about Orange, the color or the fruit or something that inspires you.

I thought about what to make for this blog hop for a long time. In the meanwhile, I got orders to make the water bottle slings that I shared with you on the last blog hop, It's a Guy Thing. I need to make 5 water bottle slings for 2 customers. But I still hadn't made or even decided on my Orange project yet. I didn't want to bail out, so I just happened to find the perfect project and the timing was perfect too.  Along came this fast and easy project: Podlets.

Spencer Ogg designed these Podlets to be fast and easy and I can assure you that they are just that. Take a couple pieces of fabric, interface them, fold, press, snip, press, clip, sew, press and turn them and topstitch and you just made a little fabric basket or Podlet all in about 10-15 minutes or less. And the cool part is they fold flat so you can store them when not in use.

These Podlets can hold sorts of items, depending on the size you make. Spencer Ogg has a pdf with a few sizes you can try, but she encourages you to come up with your own sizes too. The instructions are on her video and the pdf is on her Facebook page. She shows how to make the large size on her video and gives you the cut sizes, so even if you aren't on Facebook, you can follow the video and make her larger size. The instructions for all sizes are the same, except for the cut size fabrics differ for each size and the measurement that folds up on the lining may be different for different sizes.

I made a couple of the square Podlets in a fabric that is oranges of course. I used a yellow lining for both. I chose this size based on the width I had of the oranges fabric. 

2 Podlet fabric baskets with oranges fabric on the exterior and a pale yellow lining. 

Here is a Podlet filled with plastic sewing clips. You can use these to hold so many fun and useful things.

Such yummy looking oranges fabric.

One Podlet is filled with plastic sewing clips and the other is folded flat. You can store a lot of Podlets when they are stored flat. Bonus: folding them flat makes it so much easier to mail, especially in a plastic envelope. Think gifts!

Another BONUS is they are completely reversible! If you use 2 really pretty colors, you can reverse as the mood strikes. I think the oranges fabric makes a better exterior on mine, since I chose a pale yellow for the lining. (These aren't really suitable for directional fabrics though, so keep that in mind.)

The basket on the right is shown upside down with the bottom showing on the top. See those folded slits on the sides? That is what makes the basket fold flat.

The basket on the right if you peek inside shows the triangles that form on the lining side (again this is what makes the basket fold flat).

Just for fun I wondered if one basket could fit on top of the other like a lid and it does! So it you needed a lid for your basket, just make 2 baskets like I did.

So there you have it. My fast, easy, useful & fun Podlet project (in orange of course). I hope you will try and make some for yourself. I would love to see them if you do. 

And if you are reading this on my posted day of August 17th, today just happens to be Mr. P and my anniversary (41 years married!). We never do anything special, so it's just a normal day for us.

See what these other creative bloggers are up to their oranges with:

Monday, August 16th

Just Let Me Quilt
QuiltFabrication

Inflorescence

SameliasMum

Just Sew Quilter

Scrapdash

Karrin's Crazy World

Tuesday, August 17th

MooseStashQuilting
Words & Stitches

Quilting Gail

Patchouli Moon Studio (that's me, so orange you glad you are here...I couldn't resist)

 Den syende himmel   

Karen's Korner

Ms P Designs USA

Wednesday, August 18th

Quilted Delights

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Days Filled With Joy

Patchwork Breeze

AlyciaQuilts- Quiltygirl

Lianne Makes Stuff

Homespun Hannah's Blog

Thursday, August 19th

Creatin' in the Sticks

VroomansQuilts

Selina Quilts

Becky’s adventures in quilting and travel 

Quilt Schmilt

DOMESTIC FELICITY

Stitchin At Home

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