Old basket to doll bed upcycle

Or maybe I should say bunny bed?

Even though I encourage my kids to be creative and they are used to seeing me work on my own crafts, sometimes they still manage to surprise me. Last Sunday, after church, my son came to me and said Carrot needed a bed (Carrot is a soft toy bunny he received from his grandmother last Easter and that has been sleeping with him ever since). 

Now, if that request had come from my daughter, I would have not been surprised because she always needs a bed for every one of her dolls. But coming from an eight year old boy that's usually focused on video games and anything with wheels, it was unexpected. And endearing too. As I'm betting in a couple of years he will not only forget about this but feel embarrassed if I ever remind him, I decided to comply. Kids grow up too fast as it is, so I might as well enjoy what's left of their childhood while I can.  

I had this basket in a corner of my craft room from quite some time: 

 

I vaguely recall that it came with flowers delivered to the hospital when one my kids was born (can't remember which). For a while we used it to store toys, but then the handle broke and I just held on to the basket, thinking I would make something out it one day. 

I told my son to go through my fabric stash and pick whatever he liked for Carrot's bed (not that he had a lot of choice because most of my fabrics are girly and Carrot, has been determined to be boy bunny). This was the end result:

I made everything as I went along, so no pattern and no tutorial this time, but I'll just give you some pointers in case you ever want to make something similar:

• I traced the bottom of the basket onto the back of the fabric and cut two pieces, which were sewn right sides together leaving a small opening on one side, turned inside out, filled with a bit of polyester filling and closed. This works as the mattress.
• I cut a strip of fabric long enough to go around the inside of the basket and wide enough to cover it from the mattress up to the top border. I sewed it to the mattress. 
• Then I cut another strip of fabric this time to go around the outside of the basket. The top of this strip is sewn to the other one (the one lining the inside of the basket) and the bottom is folded and sewn into an elastic casing. This way the basket is lined inside and out with one single piece (because everything is sewn together) and the elastic not only helps to keep everything in place but makes it easy to remove for washing if necessary. 

My son cut himself two rectangles of fabric to make a pillow (and filled it with the polyester), and I also made a small blanket (again, his choice of fabric), lined with the same fabric as the basket and with a small trim as embellishment. 

All in all, it took me less then an hour to make everything, and Carrot has been happily sleeping in his own bed ever since. So I'm calling in a very successful upcyle!

(it works well as a doll bed too, but that Barbie did not last long in there...)

The downside? When my daughter found out what we were making for Carrot, she immediately came up with a doll that did not have a bed yet. Since I was freshly out of baskets to upcycle, I had to improvise. I'll share that adventure next week...

Happy Tuesday,