“Love Me”
by Sheri L. Van Duyn 

Preparation:

Cut 1 piece of 3/8” flat at 18” long. Cut 5 pieces of 3/8” flat at 14” long. Mark all the centers in the middle on the rough side. Soak with 1 piece of #1 or #2 round reed.

 Construction:

Lay out the 18” piece of 3/8” flat horizontally. Weave the 5 pieces of 3/8” flat under and over this single base piece.

Base should measure 4 ½” long and the width of the 3/8” piece. Now twine 1 row with the #1 or #2 round reed. Crimp this piece in half and overlap 1 spoke tucking the tail of the round reed into spokes to the inside. Trim to 2” and later you can trim even more off.

Upsett your spokes.
Weave: 8 rows of ¼” flat natural
            3 rows in ¼” flat dyed reed
            3 more rows of ¼” flat 

Cut and tuck spokes.

 Add a handle of 3/8” flat oval for the handle. This piece should be 20”. Shave the oval ends of both sides down for 4”. Insert this down the outer sides of the basket until the handle height is 8”.

 Add rims of 3/8” flat oval for the inside and outside. Shave down the overlap before clamping onto the basket. Seagrass can be used here for rim filler, but is optional. Lash with 11/64” or superfine caning.

 Stain basket with your favorite color stain. Let dry.

 Add a cluster of 3 buttons to the bottom right of the basket. Use Tacky glue or your glue gun. Clip off the backing of the buttons so they lay flat against the basket when gluing these down.

 Glue the 2 ½” -3” doily on the upper left side of the basket. (If you cannot find a small doily like this; take 1” lace and lay this in a circular shape on the basket and glue this down in place.) Add the 2 ribbon (or silk) flowers by gluing on the right side and add the brass Cupid on the left side of this cluster.

 Fill with flowers or add a small pad of paper and a pen and hang up to enjoy!

Copyright  ~  Sheri L. Van Duyn   ~  2006

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(616) 846-7926 * sheri@justpatterns.com