DIY Handmade Woven Clothes Hamper

Weave handmade clothes hampers from willow shoots.

Store-bought wicker laundry baskets come in a variety of styles: natural wood, painted and fabric-lined. These column-like laundry baskets are made using the same traditional basket weaving techniques as basic wicker baskets. With a little patience and a lot of willow shoots, you can create your own woven clothes hamper at home. Presoaking the willow shoots will make it easier to weave and manipulate the willow.

Things You'll Need

• Old blanket
• Measuring tape
• 100 Willow shoots
• Secateur shears
• Pocket knife

Instructions

Basket Bottom

1. Soak the blanket in water. Squeeze out excess water, so the blanket is damp but not dripping. Wrap the willow shoots in the dampened blanket and let sit overnight.

2. Cut eight, 2-foot long willow shoots with the secateurs.

3. Slice through the center of four willow shoots using the pocket knife. Split the center of the four shoots to fit the remaining four shoots inside. Lining the four sliced shoots next to one another, slide the unsliced shoots through their centers to create a slath.

4. Grasp two of the thinnest willow shoots to twine the slath. Twine around each four four shoot section of the slath, twice. Begin twining around each individual shoot, to separate the shoots into a starburst shape.

5. Twine around each individual shoot to create the bottom weave of the clothes hamper. If you run out of twine length before you've completed two rotations, select another shoot of similar width and use the pocket knife to sharpen one end. Slide the sharpened end of the new shoot through the weave toward the center of the basket.

6. Cut off one of the twining shoots with the secateurs and continue weaving the remaining shoot in and out of each spoke. Add replacement shoots as necessary in the same manner as replacing the twining shoots. Continue weaving until you reach the desired circumference.

Starting the Sides

1. Sharpen the bottom of 16 new shoots with the pocket knife.

2. Insert the sharpened shoots into the weave to stake the bottom of the basket, one next to each spoke. Use the secateurs to trim the original spokes flush to the weave.

3. Bend one stake to the left and underneath the next two spokes, then bend to the right securing the stake in an upright position. Repeat the bending process for each stake around the hamper bottom.

4. Create a border to the hamper bottom using the the "three-rod-wale" weaving method. Insert three additional shoots into the weave between consecutive spokes. Bend the first shoot to the right and weave the shoot behind the third stake.

5. Repeat the weaving of the shoots behind every third stake until you've completed two rotations of the "three-rod-wale" weave.

Finishing the Sides

1. Weave up the sides of the basket using the standard "french-randing" weave; skip the first stake to the left, weave behind the next stake and back outside the third stake.

2. Repeat pattern with each weaving shoot, adding additional shoots as needed to continue climbing the weave up the stakes of the hamper basket to desired height. Use the secateurs to trim the weaving ends as needed.

3. Weave another layer of three-rod-wale with three additional shoots to lock down the french-randing.

4. Bend each stake down to the right and weave in any desired pattern to finish off the basket. Use the secateurs to trim excess stake ends. Tuck ends into the weave along the top rim of the basket.

References

• Jon's Bush Craft: Wicker Basket Tutorial
• Basket Makers: Basketry Techniques: Twining