How to Make a Decorative Fabric Basket

Here's a great gift for your guy—or pretty much anyone who could use a little crafty help staying organized. These catchalls are simple to make, and you can easily personalize each one with your fabric choices.

They work up quickly and pack neatly, meaning you can take a bunch with you in your suitcase, or send them off to their destination without a lot of packaging. I actually love to use these catchalls when I travel since I can lay them flat in my suitcase and snap them into place when I get to the hotel. It's always helpful to have a place to put your keys, change, and anything else that's in your pocket at the end of the day.

o get started, gather all of your supplies. You'll need to cut two squares, one 9-inch square from fabric and one 8-1/4-inch square from felt. You'll also need four snaps per catchall.

Make sure to choose a thick, quality felt (not the 25-cents/sheet acrylic felt). The felt will provide some soft structure for your catchall. If you can't find thick felt, try layering two pieces of felt or inserting a layer of sturdy interfacing between the felt and fabric before you sew them together (see below).

You'll also need:

    Iron
    Tailor's chalk or a temporary fabric marker
    Ruler
    Sewing machine
    Hand-sewing needle
    Coordinating thread

Press 1/2 inch under (toward the wrong side) on all four sides of your fabric square. Turn each doubled corner under and press.

Place the fabric square on top of the felt, wrong sides facing. Make sure it is centered on the felt and pin it in place if you like. Sew the fabric to the felt along the outer edge of the fabric square, pivoting at the corners when you reach them. Next, trim the felt as close as possible to the fabric edge so that both squares are the same size.

With a ruler and tailor's chalk, mark a line 1-1/2 inches in from each side of the square. Sew along the marked lines. Rub away the remaining tailor's chalk.

Place a snap ball (left) and socket (right) at the edge of the straight line on each corner as shown. Hand-sew each snap half into place. Repeat for all four corners.

Snap each corner together, and this catchall is ready to stow your stuff.

If you cut out all of your squares at the same time, you can easily craft up several of these in a short amount of time. The most time-consuming part is sewing on the snaps.