Basketry weaving, "cesteria" in Italian, is an ancient artisan technique based on the weaving of branches, ropes, leaves and other similar object in the creation of baskets or hampers. However, it's not limited to only these but also hats, trays and much more. You are only limited by the bounds of your imagination.
Basketry is making a strong comeback in the contemporary craft world thanks to social media and DIY home decor, today this art form is experiencing a true renaissance. Colourful and masterfully woven objects, decorate our homes and highly gifted artisans teach us how to produce these wonderful pieces of art ourselves. One such artist is Tabara N'Diaye, known as La Basketry, who has exclusively created the Check mate basket for us. It's a bicoloured basket featuring our pure cotton Stromboli tape.
The tutorial is designed for beginners and we hope you enjoy learning the basket weaving technique.
At the end of the tutorial you will also find the link to an in-depth article where we talk with Tabara and her basketry weaving.
MATERIALS
Stromboli yarn col. Sky 200 g / 7 oz
Stromboli yarn col. Peach 200 g / 7 oz
Wool needle
Scissors
Measuring tape
Clothes' peg
4 m of cord
DIMENSIONS OF FINISHED PIECE
Diameter 20 cm / 7.9"
METHOD
Cut 2 m / 78.7" of your Sky Stromboli (we'll reference it as as color A).
Place color A on top of the rope and wind it tightly 10 times clockwise from right to left until: you can fold the rope and you can create a small eyelet covered with color A.
Wrap color A twice around the base of the eyelet and secure with a peg.
Grab the other end of color A and thread it onto a wool needle.
Poke the threaded needle up through the central hole of your eyelet. Congrats, you’ve done your first stitch!
Start to coil the cord into a circle and follow the following:
- wrap 5 times color A clockwise over the rope (wraps) and through the central hole (stitch).
Repeat this step until you have done a full round, the central hole should have almost disappeared!
For your next round, wrap color A 5 times around the rope (clockwise) and stitch one time through the previous round (instead of through the centre).
Once you have 10 cm left of color A, it’s time to join in a new length.
Lay the old length of color A at the back of your coil.
Cut a new 4 m of color A and lay this new length at the front of your coil.
Start weaving with the new color A by wrapping it over the rope (this will secure and hide the old length) and continuing with your pattern of 5 wraps and 1 stitch.
Instead of working flat, place the cord on top of the previous round. Place the cord directly on top of the previous round for straight sides, or in the middle for a more oval-shaped basket.
Make sure you are holding the cord in the right place and using each stitch to hold it there.
Una volta che siete arrivati alla fine anche del secondo pezzo di filato colore A, mettete i 10 cm / 3.9" finali del filato nella parte posteriore del cesto.
A questo punto tagliate 2 m / 78.7" di filato Stromboli color Pesca (colore B) e disponete i primi 10 cm / 3.9" sulla parte davanti del cesto, e iniziate ad avvolgere il filato sopra alla corda, come già fatto in precedenza, ricordate che ogni 5 volte che avvolgete il filato di passare l'ultima volta dal giro precedente.
Weave 2 full rounds with color B.
Revert back to colour A for 2 full rounds.
Finish your basket doing a full round with color A.
You’ll need about 10 cm of rope left, so trim any excess. Continue stitching until you have covered all of the cord - you can use the peg to hold the cord in place.
Feed the needle back through the stitches on the inside of your basket and trim the end, you can tie a little knot to secure it.
If you want to weave a Larger basket, just keep repeating the pattern you have used up until this moment, the only thing you must consider is the length of the cord you start with. If you intend to make a larger basket we advise you not to cut the rope, so that you're able to adjust as needed.
We have come to the end of our tutorial on how to weave the Check Mate basket, all that's left to do is to find out more about the basket maker who created it for us, namely La Basketry.
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