Easter egg hunt felt basket

With Easter in mind I decided to make my daughter an Easter Egg bag from some strong felt leftovers I had. I saw something similar in the US but i usually try not to buy " Made in China" stuff, especially if I can make it myslef. I am light years away from providing a decent tutorial so here are some simple instructions. First I made a flower template and traced it over the felt. I made two whole flowers and two half flowers.

I used softer felt for the base, but personally I think that hard felt would have been better, however in my case was too thick to sew. I attached the yellow felt, which made the bottom of the basket, to the half cut flower shape. Next I did the same on the other side. Can you see, it is starting to resemble a basket!
Now I cut the extra part from what was the inside flower shape, like this:

The basket ended up looking like this.

Next I decorated the flower shapes. Once i was happy with the choice of fabric ( same as last year) I used Vlisofix and a hot iron to attach the cut fabric pieces to the felt. I than appliqued the flower using brown thread on the sewing machine to outline the shape of the figure. I really like this technique, it can never be perfect but it looks very cute. Off course my daughter is helping me hold the fabric in place. Next I attached the outside flower to the inside flower. I decided to baste the felt to keep both pieces in place so i didn't have to worry about pins.

I used a contrasting yellow thread and a simple decorative stitch from my sewing machine. Not to forget a handle attached with some buttons and here is the finished basket. Now from the other side. However, I found a little problem.. The outside flower was heavier than the inside and was pulling slightly so I had to attach the inside and the outside part together.


Finaly to complete the look I added two tiny stuffed felt creatures - a ladybird and a buzzy bee. Finished!!! I hope my daughther will have lots of fun collecting Easter eggs in her basket! Love, Irina xx