Stashbusting to Organize!

For my final June Containment post I'd thought I'd share my ongoing organizing project: Denim Buckets.

I read two great tutorials that you can see here (my original inspiration) and another that is no longer working, then did my own thing. Haha, that's always the way right? So what did I do? Bullet points to the rescue!

• I used both legs of each pair of my jeans since I wanted the biggest baskets I could make. 
• I cut the bottoms square instead of trying to get my fabric stand in a perfect circle. To do this you

1. Fold your bucket tube in half and clip corners, align clips and clip the other corners. Your bucket bottom should now be divided into four sections.
2. Measure one section. This is the space between two clips.
3. Cut your square bucket bottom 1/2 inch LARGER than that measurement. This way you will have the correct size bottom for each bucket. 
4. Sew it up blah, blah all that jazz!

• The wide end was the top of my bucket which allowed easy fold over at the top. This also makes a handy handle to pick them up and move them around.
• I didn't use any interfacing since I was using upholstery weight fabric for the inside and heavy denim on the outside. They keep their shape nicely with stuff in them.

They came out all different sizes and shapes and as soon as I got them finished my Mother whisked them away to organize my brother's and my yarn stash. She even helped sew some of the straight side seams. My mother is a budding seamstress. I'm so proud of her.

I still have a few more to make but this put a huge dent in my jeans stash. Now I just need to figure out what to do with all the left over bottoms...

But wait! That's not all I stashbusted this month... guess what else I found on Pinterest....

Link to Blog Post and Pattern

Isn't this lovely! You need to check her tutorial out for the directions to do the bottom alone! Fabulous idea! I stashbusted four skeins of "Twisted Polypropylene Maxi-Cord" and made a large version of her bag/bucket. I think it will outlast me!

You can see my Mother absconded with this too.

Closeup of bottom/side transition detail.

If you want to learn to crochet this would be a very easy project. I used the pattern until I got the bottom the size I wanted then I skipped to her directions for the sides and started up. It's easy to change sizes without changing the pattern by simply using different materials. I was using two strands of that heavy yarn and it worked up very quickly. You could also cut fabric strips and crochet them into a pretty basket. I've found yardage I don't like very much can look pretty cute crocheted into something else be it a rug or basket.

So that's as far as I got with this month's theme. How about you? What have you been stashbusting this month? Bags? Dresses? Cushions?