Free Baby & Doll Pieced Basket Quilt Pattern

To the right you will see an example of the pieced basket doll quilt along with quilting done 1/4 inch from the seams. The basket blocks are 6 inches square and both the white sashing and the border strips are 1/2 inch wide. The finished doll quilt will be about 17 inches square. I did the border with three strips and interwoven corners but you could do five if you wish. The sample also shows what the quilt looks like with quilting 1/4 inch from the seams.

To the left is the layout of the pieced basket baby quilt. The basket blocks are also 6 inches square and the white sashing is one inch wide while the alternating border strips are 3/4 inch wide. The finished baby quilt will be about 37" square. You would probably want to do this border with the 5 strips and interlocking corners as the quilt is much larger but three would be fine if you are short of time. To really give the border the woven basket look you could reduce the width to 1/2 inch and use seven strips. The baby quilt picture shows what the quilt would look like if you quilted it with a diagonal grid.

I used sand paper templates like some quilters used during the depression years. It really worked well as the templates didn't slip at all. It was fun to try but if you prefer, just use plastic template material. I cut out the paper templates then traced them onto the sandpaper as shown in the picture to the right. Be sure to use old scissors to cut the sandpaper templates out. Next trace the templates on the fabric and cut them out. Cut the basket bottom piece with the longest seam on the grain. Also cut the basket handles with the long edges on grain. That will assure you will always have an edge on grain sewn to any bias edges which will prevent stretched seams.

To sew together the basket first sew the short part of the basket handle (A) onto the white triangles (E). Then sew on the longer part of the basket handle (B). Next sew the basket body (C) to the small triangle of grass (D). As you can see from the picture to the left you can then sew the bottom and the top of the triangle together.

Next cut the strips for your sashing on grain. The doll quilt has 1/2 inch sashing so cut it 1 inch wide and the baby quilt has 1 inch sashing so cut it 1 1/2 inches wide. Next cut enough strips 6 1/2 inches to sew on the top and bottoms of the blocks except for the very top and bottom. For the sides I sewed the sashing on the entire length from top to bottom. Measure your strip lengths to be sure they match the sides of the rows of blocks. Last of all sew the sashing across the top and bottom.

Now cut the border strips and sew them together in alternate colors for the side sections. You will need two sets of strips for the corners with opposite colors. See in the picture how I made strips then cut them the opposite way but the same width. These can then be sewn together to make the woven look of the corners.

Next attach the corner pieces on each end of two of your side borders. Then sew the side borders that don't have the corners onto your quilt. Last sew the sides with the corners on the other two sides. This takes some careful seam matching. Your quilt top is then complete.