DIY Easter Basket

I don’t know if you’ve been keeping track, but Easter is less than a month away (April 17th, to be exact). I LOVE Easter. It’s such a beautiful time of year, and it’s also the perfect time to get crafting!

This year we’re excited to announce a brand new DIY Easter basket! The best part about it is it’s super customizable and doesn’t require any sewing. You can also use up left over fabric from other projects. Ready to learn how?

History of Easter Baskets

Easter baskets have become an iconic element of Easter. But did you know they’re not just a fun, modern tradition for kids? It turns out the Easter basket has roots dating back to ancient times. The Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring and fertility, Eostre, was often portrayed holding a woven basked during spring celebrations. Hence, the Easter basket. Early medieval Catholics also used the basket, along with the idea of fertility, in their Easter celebrations. Traditionally, to celebrate the end of Lent (the 40 days leading up to Easter), they would bring baskets filled with symbolic treats to the church where the priests would bless them.

If you weren’t aware, many of the items we put in our Easter baskets are symbols of fertility (bunnies, eggs, and the basket, primarily). Across the world, many different cultures view the egg as associated with rebirth and new life, including Ancient Egyptians, Asians, Greeks, and Christians. Here’s the full article explaining a brief history of Easter baskets.

Our DIY Easter Basket

Our DIY Easter basket references this no-sew Easter basket we made years ago. We thought it could use a little sprucing up, so we decided to make an alternate version. We thought it was a fun twist (ha!) on the original.

How to Make Your Own DIY Easter Basket

Here’s how to make your own DIY Easter basket:

Prepping the Rope

1. First, cut some long strips of fabric that are roughly 2″-3″ wide. We used pink and white fabric (muslin gauze works well for this if you have it). You’ll need quite a few strips if you plan on making a full sized Easter basket. If you’d like, you can also make a mini version, which requires less fabric.
2. Next, take one white and one pink piece of fabric and hot glue the two together at the very top. The nice thing is you can use whatever colors you’d like, so have fun! Don’t feel like you have to use the pink and white like we did. This basket is totally customizable.
3. Then, tape the pieces to the table and begin twisting the two together to make a rope. Use our step photos as a reference for this to make sure you twist them the right direction!
4. When you get to the end of a strip, overlap a new strip of the same color by an inch or so and twist it in with the rest of the rope strand.
5. Continue until the rope is as long as you’d like.

Prepping the Handle

The handle is a similar process to the rope, with a few slight differences.

1. For the handle, cut a piece of thick gauge wire as long as you’d like the handle to be.
2. Now, nestle one end of the wire in between the two pieces of fabric you’re going to twist into rope. Secure with hot glue, then tape onto a table or other secure surface.
3. Start twisting the two pieces of fabric together using the same method above, only this time make sure the wire is wrapped into the middle as you go.
4. Once you reach the end of the wire, secure with some hot glue and cut off the excess fabric.

Assembling the Basket

1. To assemble your Easter basket, coil the rope around itself, securing with hot glue as you go. Continue until the diameter of the base is as wide as you’d like.
2. Next, start coiling the rope into a gradual stack to make the sides of the basket.
3. Continue until it’s as tall as you’d like, then cut off the excess rope and secure the end with hot glue.
4. To attach the handle, decide where you want the handle to go and secure with a dab of hot glue on each side.
5. Done!

Now all that’s left to do is fill your Easter basket. We have tons of ideas in our Easter shop, and stay tuned, because tomorrow we’ll be releasing a post where we talk all about what to put in your Easter basket!

More Inspiration

Looking for more Easter crafts? Try this super easy paper Easter basket! Want even more? Check out all of our Easter blog content here. Also see our Easter shop and this post for lots of ideas of things to put in your Easter basket!