DIY Easter Basket for 18 Inch Doll

It's Easter and time for an egg hunt!  Your 18-inch doll will have fun finding and collecting eggs with her new Easter basket made from plastic canvas.

Making an Easter basket for your doll is a budget-friendly option compared to purchasing one and this basket can be customized to fit your doll's personality and style.

This tutorial will explain how to make an Easter basket with plastic canvas for an 18" doll.  This is an easy project to make from plastic canvas and perfect for teaching kids how to make needlepoint stitches.

Click the link to watch the video below and or keep reading this tutorial to learn how to make this Easter basket from plastic canvas.

SUPPLIES NEEDED for the Doll Easter Basket

• Plastic Canvas Sheet 7-mesh
• Plastic Canvas 3" round
• Yarn
• Tapestry Needle

Find links to purchase these supplies at the end of this tutorial.

INSTRUCTIONS For Making the Plastic Canvas Easter Basket

STEP 1: CUTTING PLASTIC CANVAS PIECES

For the side of the Doll Easter Basket, cut from 7-mesh plastic canvas sheet a piece that is 50 holes x 9 holes.

For the basket handle cut a piece 48 holes x 2 holes from 7-mesh plastic canvas sheet. 

To make the basket bottom, take the 3” round plastic canvas piece and remove 2 threads all the way around.

To remove two threads, cut off the first two rows from the outside of the circle which will remove two rounds of holes.

The bottom can be covered in yarn or it can be left unstitched.  A sample of how to cover it with yarn is shown below.

STEP 2: BASKET SIDE

Take the 50 x 9 piece of plastic canvas and stitch the continental stitch leaving 3 threads blank at both short ends.  Any color of yarn can be used to cover the side of the basket.  We used a light pink for this basket.

Come up in the fourth hole from the short end and one hole in from the side. Go down in the third hole from the short end closest to the side.

Continue stitching the continental stitch by coming up in the hole next to the first hole you came up in.  Then go down in the hole next to the first one you went down in. 

Cover the entire piece with continental stitches but leave the three threads on each short end unstitched. The piece will look like below.

Make this piece into a circle by overlapping the unworked threads and stitch together using the continental stitch.

After overlapping, fill in with the continental stitch.

STEP 3: HANDLE

Cover the handle with a straight stitch down the center. Take the piece of plastic canvas 48 holes x 2 holes and stitch a straight stitch over the middle threads.

Then, use an overcast stitch to cover the two long sides of the handle. The finished handle is shown in the photo below.

STEP 4: JOINING Basket SIDE to the BOTTOM

Place the round side piece on top of the round bottom piece. Join them together using the whip stitch.

Finish the top edge of the basket with a whip stitch.

The basket is finished, now it's time to add the handle.

STEP 5: ATTACH the basket HANDLE

Place the handle on the basket and tack it in place with a few stitches.

Start the yarn by running under the stitches. The easiest way is to poke from the outside bottom of the basket, into the basket and run the needle under the stitches inside the basket.

Hold one end of the handle in place near the yarn.  Stitch a few stitches from the inside of the basket, through the handle and then back to the inside of the basket.

Place three to four stitches to hold the handle in place.

Attach the other side of the handle to the basket in the same way.

The doll Easter basket is finished!  Fill it with a few items and it's ready for doll role-play.  This basket can be stitched in many different colors and a pattern could be stitched on the basket or handle.

We hope you enjoyed this tutorial on how to make an Easter Basket for an 18 inch doll.

Other fun doll craft tutorials:

• DIY Doll Clothes Closet
• How to make a doll table from items from the Dollar Store.
• No-Sew Doll Blanket Tutorial 
• Doll Smartphone Tutorial