Learn Simple Weaving Techniques by Making a Range of Miniature Basket Styles

This miniature basket is woven entirely from covered wire. It is a form of oval basket with straight sides, and you can use the instructions to make various bird cages with different shaped bases, or to make laundry hampers, shopping carts and other larger straight sided conical baskets.

The basket can be filled with flowers or you can make miniature doves to go in the basket.

These rectangular baskets can be made with or without dropped handles or pull fronts and added to pastry counters or miniature kitchens. These baskets have a solid wood base, and the technique can be used for a range of trays or other containers where you want woven sides over a flat base.

Coiled "Moses" baskets or baby baskets with handles have a very long history. This basket was coiled using strings of garden raffia wrapped around a wire center. You can also use paper for a similar effect. In larger sizes, you could wrap raffia around itself or a cord of heavy crochet thread to make similar baskets. Wire makes the moses basket a bit easier to manage in smaller scales.

These paper baskets are woven with techniques similar to those used to make baskets from thin splits of wood. They are easily made as tiny easter basket decorations or baskets for miniature dollouse scenes. The printables with these instructions come in a range of colors allowing you to weave 'natural' colored baskets or brightly colored ones for spring scenes. There is a choice of round or square bases so you can weave a variety of shapes. Once you understand the technique you can use thin wood veneer to weave even more realistic miniature baskets with the same basic technique.

This dollhouse scale fitted miniature picnic basket is made from needlepoint canvas. You could however weave two small rectangular baskets using the same methods as are used for the oval easter or shopping basket shown above, and join the sections together to make the outer woven picnic basket if you prefer.