Easter baskets

A little while back I came across a tutorial for rope baskets, so I bought some cotton sash cord, gave it a go and wow - these things are so quick and easy to sew.

For my first basket I dribbled home-made liquid watercolours on the sash cord (if you want to know how to make paint from dried-up markers, click here) and left it to dry before sewing the basket. Then I experimented a bit with ways of finishing the tops of the baskets - I made one with two little handles, and some with one loop - and looked for best way to stop the end of the cord from fraying (I discovered that dipping it in melted candle wax works well).

I used different colour thread for each basket and some showed up better than others, which led me to think about dyeing some of them. Of course for a basket one needs only a small amount, which is why Greek Easter egg dye seemed the perfect solution. And since it's in all the Greek delis at the moment I picked up a couple of colours and went to work.

Instead of boiling the basket in the dye as per the egg instructions, I just soaked it for a few hours in a mix of dye and boiled water. The classic red dye produced a nice matte red shade, a little more subdued than I'd hoped, but I quite like it. The yellow dye worked well too, and I think I'll go grab myself a few more colours to try before stocks disappear from the shelves. 

Now I have a lovely little collection of baskets for keeping hair ties, small change, jewellery and chocolates!