Spring-form Bucket Tutorial

Let's make springy fabric buckets. A free tutorial. Yay!


Getting Started
To get started on this tutorial you won't need much. Fabric, a spring, scissors, some pins and something to trace onto fabric. I'll go into detail about each of these below.

I think this project is pretty darn easy. There are a few curves that you are sewing, but they aren't tight curves and feel just like sewing a straight line. The result is a fun springy basket.





Selecting Fabrics
I use three different fabrics for my springform buckets.

• Outer Shell - something midweight to decorator weight
  
• Lining Fabric - something quilting weight
  
• Bucket Base - a plain sturdy linen or canvas

The tutorial shows SpinSpin polka dots, Sevenberry and a natural linen. Other great choices are Kokka linen/cotton blends and those wonderful Australian designer screen prints that I posted about.

None of these fabrics will require any interfacing or timtex. The spring will give the bucket all the structure that it needs. The amount of fabric required varies by the size of your spring. So refer to the measuring your bucket section below to find the amount needed.


Finding a Spring
The hardest part of this whole tutorial is going to be finding a spring form to use. I found these little buckets at local dollar stores (Bondi non-name dollar store and Hot Dollar) for $2.50-3.00 before Halloween. They worked just perfectly because they are a good size and have lots of curls in their springs.

I also noticed that IKEA sells spring buckets that are slightly nicer for about the same cost. (3 for $8.99 in Australia. Significantly less in the US.) In Australia, the IKEA buckets are called KUSINER. Kmart had some too. I haven't used the IKEA or Kmart ones, but my gut instinct says they would work.

Rest assured, the buckets I bought were quite daggy, so I had no problem sourcing them for parts. If someone knows of a direct bucket spring source, do share in the comments!


The buckets I chose have no inner lining, so the spring and all seams are visible. Our finished project will have the spring fully encased and the seams tidy. It's accomplished without any handstitching too!

Getting Measurements
First, before we disassemble our bucket, we need to get a few measurements. Using a tape measurement write down the height and circumference of the finished bucket.


Can you see why this bucket was only $3? look at the seam construction. My bucket was 8" tall and roughly 19 3/4" around in this example


Free your spring from the original bucket and set it aside for now.


When freed and allowed to expand, the one in my bucket doubled it's length to 16"


Next we want to cut the outer fabric and lining pieces accounting for seam allowances. These are simply rectangles. The measurements should be:

• outer fabric width = circumference plus 1/2"
• outer fabric height = height plus 1/4"
  
• lining fabric width = circumference plus 1/2"
• lining fabric height = height plus 1 3/4"
  

Next we need to cut out the bottom of the fabric which is a circle. Trace the spring onto your base fabric. Then cut your fabric 1/4" wider than your traced circle.


This is not rocket science. This does not need to be perfect. How often do your friends come over and pick up the bottom of your buckets and stare at them and inspect them for circle perfection?

I have four friends who might do that, but they are reading this tutorial now. They have just learned that my bucket bottoms aren't perfectly round. There's no need to inspect them. Hi friends!

We now have cut our outer fabric, lining fabric and base. We have all of the parts that we need and are ready to start sewing.


Creating Shell and Lining Tubes
Fold the outer fabric in half so that the short sides meet and the right sides of the fabric are face to face. Do not press the center fold. Repeat with the lining fabric.


Using a 1/4" seam sew the short edges of the outer fabric to create a tube. Repeat with the lining fabric.

Keeping the fabric inside out, press the seam open (no picture here... if you aren't sure how to press it, don't worry it's not mission critical. =)

Attaching the Bucket Base and Outer Shell
Next we attach the bucket base to the outer shell. Set the lining aside, we'll come back to that later.

I'll confess I rarely pin things, but I did so for the tutorial to help you understand. Take your time with this to make sure the edges line up and there are no unusual folds or creases in the outer fabric. It's important that the outer shell fabric (the polka dots in this example) sits perfectly smooth since it will be visible.

tip: If your fabric is directional, make sure you have the bottom of the fabric attached to the bucket base.

In order to get the outer shell smooth, the bucket base might be a tiny bit wonky and stick out beyond the seam of the outer shell. don't worry about this. no one is going look at the bottom of your bucket for perfect roundness. (Right, Cass?)


Sew the outer shell to the bucket base with a 1/4" seam. I keep the outer fabric visible so I can make sure it's not getting any awkward folds or wrinkles.




Voila! 1/4" seam. Trim away any excess bucket base that is showing or fraying (if it's linen) like the bit in this photo.

At this stage, you can flip it right side out. You'll get a vague idea of what the outside of your bucket will look like. Feel free to try to put the spring it, but don't expect much at this stage... It won't look right until it's all finished.


Attaching the Lining
Next we need to pin the lining fabric to what we've sewn. Return the outer shell back to inside out. Pay close attention to the picture. The idea is to create a "sandwich" so that the bucket base is squeezed between the outer shell and inner lining fabric. Although not strictly necessary, I like to line up the seams of the lining and shell.

When assembled for sewing, the right side of the lining should face the bucket bottom and it should be at the opposite side of the outer shell. Basically it will look like one long tube with the wrong side showing and the base squeezed in the middle. (Lots of words there... please refer to the picture!)

Tip: If your lining fabric is directional, make sure you have the bottom of the fabric attached to the basket base.


Again make sure the outer shell sits smoothly. If there's a wrinkle or two in the lining, don't worry. No one is going to take your bucket off the shelf, remove your items and then inspect inside your bucket for absolute lining perfection at the bottom.

Sew directly on top of your other stitching; with a 1/4" seam from the outer fabric edge, attach the lining. I like to have the outer fabric visible to make sure it doesn't wrinkle.

While it's fine for your inner lining to look a little wrinkly, we don't want it to look like a sharpei. If that's the case, don't be scared about a little time with your seam ripper.



Now we have what's starting to look like an extremely floppy bucket...


Create the Top Folds
In order to finish the bucket, we fold the lining fabric down over the top of the outer fabric. We want to press these folds before we insert the spring. It will make lining things up easier later.

First fold the lining down half way to meet the edge of the outer fabric. You'll see roughly 3/4" of outer fabric.


Now fold that over one more time so it sits like a cap over the outer fabric. In this way, at least 1/2-3/4" of the outer fabric is sandwiched between the lining folds. This will make sure we have a strong, wide seam later. Your bucket may even stand up on it's own at this point...

For all of three minutes...


Summon Your Inner Ringmaster
Now we want to insert our spring between the outer and inner layers of fabric. This process will involve your hands turning white and the blood rushing out of them as you squeeze the coils of the spring together. I promise you this will work.

You might be tempted to try to tie the coils together at this stage. I tried that first but realized it's much easier to keep them free.

Keeping pressure on the coils, place the spring between the inner and outer layers of fabric.


Once it's loosely placed, squeeze it all together in a giant Hershey kiss shape. Continue working the spring to the bottom of your bucket.

While still holding it like a hershey kiss, check the bottom of the bucket to see if the base is centered on the spring. If it's not gently work the fabric until you get it mostly centered.


While continuing to keep force on the coils to keep them tightly held, reach into the middle of the lining.

Using pins, sandwich the coil between the outer layer of fabric and the lining. Continue around the bucket until the spring is secure. This forces the spring to stay squeezed tightly, held in place by the pins. This frees your hands up for the next step and keeps the spring out of the way while you sew.




Now we want to fold the lining back over the outer shell. Because your pins holding the spring are most likely uneven, we use our pressed edge as a guide. We line it up exactly with the top edge of the outer shell as we did when we pressed it.

Then flip the lining over and pin in place.


Next top stitch the lining to the outer shell.



Then the magic happens. Carefully remove the pins holding the spring in place. Voila! bucket! I like to then fold the top edge of the lining over one more time because I think it looks tidier.


And it squishes and pops back into shape!




If you give this a try, I'd love to see your photos. You can either post them in the Made with Badskirt flickr group (14 members strong and growing. thank you 14 wonderful friends!) or you can post links for us in the comments.

I don't mind if you sell things with this tutorial. Whether for personal use or selling, I do ask as a courtesy that you include a note about where you got the pattern.

This tutorial is not to be copied or reproduced for any reason or purpose without express consent of the author. Sorry that sounds all legal and dull. I'd just be really sad, if you copied this for your craft book.

Yay, springy buckets!