STEP BY STEP BASKET TUTORIAL

Your tapered finish should look like this. Don't worry if it doesn't. It took me a long time to get good at the tapers. You can squish it with your finger, try to mash it down if it looks too jutting.
(mash it down, is a technical term)

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SOrry it took so long to get around to this next bit of tutorial.

This is a short few words on how to create and oblong basket. These do not start with a coil, but a fold. You can make your fold 3 inches or 5 inches or 8 inches...it all depends on the size you want to end up with. The bottom of oblong baskets does not have the 'popping out navel' problem of a round basket due to their different construction.

Fold your wrapped cord in half and (keeping the long tail to the right) zigzag the two pieces side by side.
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Irealize in this photo I have my long tail on the wrong side! Just flip over at next turn. (I should know better by now!)

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It can be tricky getting the first few turns wiggled through your machine, but it is possible. The trick, and the fear, is that your coils start to get peanut shaped. Fat on the ends, thin in the middle. This peanut shape gets worse as you go and can make quite an odd looking basket.

Try to keep your ends well balanced. I know that is a fuzzy thing to say, but once you've made a few peanuts, you'll get what I mean. If you have to take the coils right out of the machine, squish the end into shape and then put it back in the machine at a new spot to start sewing, that's okay. ALso KEEP IT FLAT! I find the oblong tend to get shaped like a potatoe chip, not flat on the bottom, then you end up with a basket without a nice flat bottom. Always check your work and flatten and stretch it out, manipulate it until it's flat, or you have a bowed basket.

Once you like the size of your base, tip up as for the round baskets, and sew your sides as steep or sloped as you like.
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I think that pretty much concludes this tutorial.

I want to thank patient Horsey Daughter for being the photographer. I want to thank SoSnippySue for giving me a hand complex. And I want to thank everyone who has tried or is going to try making a basket. I LOVE them and hope you all post your efforts! Have fun!