Capital B: Quick Dollar Store Bike Baskets!

I recently whipped up these cutey bike baskets for the boys and love how they turned out!

When Cooper got his new bike for his birthday, he was immediately asking me for a basket for it. They love having a way to carry things and gather treasures when they ride!

There are multiple cute bike basket ideas and options out there, but using an actual basket and only sewing a lining makes it faster (and more sturdy) for sure, which I needed! I also could've just tied on the basket without the liner, but it gives it personality and is lots more fun this way :)

(These pics were all taken just the morning before his training wheels came off!)

For anyone else's kiddos out there who might like a quick bike basket too, I thought I'd share how I made these. :) If you frequent Dollar Tree much at all, these baskets probably look rather familiar! They really are an awesome size for kid's bikes.

I laid them out to create a pattern, which you can grab HERE :) Woo hoo for my first downloadable pattern! ((Insert novice disclaimer here)) Obviously your printer will prevent you from seeing the edges, since it takes up about every bit of the page. Set your margins to narrow and you should be able to fill in no problem though. :) So... you'll cut four of that piece, which is the sides and the top/ fold over section. Then cut one 6"x6" square of the same fabric as well.

This is not a double sided basket liner, by the way! I wasn't worried about my wrong sides showing, since they are inside the basket. If it bugs you, cut double of everything :)

These are the supplies I used- pattern pieces (side piece HERE and one 6"x6" square), fabric (my boys picked these out themselves- this would be a good project for the sometimes funky prints kids like to choose when they're tagging along at the fabric store!), baskets from Dollar Tree and the basic sewing goodies). Oh and ribbon that isn't shown. It was at this point that I kinda stopped taking pics of the process- oops! But, I did try to capture some details later...

Oh, and if you should want to not use this exact basket, you can obviously easily make your own pattern piece. Just be sure to choose a basket than has holes on all sides! It needs them in order for you to be able to tie it on to the bike :)

So, sew the side pieces with right sides together, one piece/side at a time, until you come back around to create the body of the basket liner. I had to think about this for maybe 8 seconds or so... no doubt you'll only need three or four to get it all pieced just right. :P Then pin your 6"x6" square, right sides together, at the bottom of the portion you just created, and sew each side one at a time- be careful not to catch any extra fabric, putting your needle down and turning as you go! :) I trimmed all my excess with pinking shears, after "trying it on" first.

To finish, I added some ribbon along the top hem. I actually trimmed the fabric very slightly with pinking shears, then added the ribbon with a zig zag stitch for this one. I used a straight stitch for the other, so whichever you prefer :) To add the ribbon, you'll work with right side facing up, but the whole thing still inside out. You'll actually not turn it around at all- the inside as it is is what needs to be seen!

See how the top of the basket liner you just made kinda narrows again? This will make it look much nicer- I figured that out the hard way- but it does make it tougher to get on. In order to fold the top part down over the rim of your basket, you'll need to kinda squish it like this. Don't worry, the baskets were no worse for the wear and you'll only need to do it once!

Alright, you're pretty well done! See why I called it "quick"? Seriously, one of the fastest sewing projects ever! You'll probably notice that it's not perfect- it needs to be pushed in at the corners and the fold-over part fitted right and all. There will be a titch of space at the bottom like below. The wrong side is showing through the holes like below too. This wasn't a big deal at all for me, but if want to create a lining by doing what you just did again and then sewing the two right sides together and flipping right side out, you won't have that.

To actually attach it to the bikes, I got the liner fitted on the basket like above, then used the sharp tip of my fabric scissors to poke through both layers of fabric, in the spots where the side holes of the basket were. I threaded about 10-12" of ribbon through each hole, catching both layers of fabric and the basket. Hopefully you can see what I mean in the pic above. Then below is what it looks like on the right side...

Then I held the basket in place, grabbed the loose ribbon pieces, wrapped them around the bike sections like the pics below and tied!

If I were more picky or concerned about these lasting a long time, I would've marked and sewn actual button holes to lace the ribbon through. But, for me, time is of the essence always and I have no problem with how these raw holes look. Only a few months and the bikes will become garage ornaments again, then next year, there will be new fabric requests, so this works :)

Ryder's ribbon strands are left long so I can move his to his other training wheel bike soon :) You could tie with several strands of ribbon for a fun, froofy look too. :) Honestly, all of this will come really natural as you just do it- surely my trying to spell it all out only makes it seem confusing or goofy, buy it's totally not! If I can sew this, truly anyone can! For real.

Didn't it turn out cute as cute?!?

It could be made both girly and masculine for sure :)

If I had a girl to make one for, I surely would've added a ruffle instead of the ribbon for trim on the top!

I was happy that these ones didn't strike me as feminine at all!