A Spot of Making Do and Mending

I have a lovely woven basket that I bought for 3 or 4 euros when we went on holiday to France 3 or 4 years ago now.  I really like it and it is so very useful.  I often take it with me when I do the weekly shopping and put all my reusable bags inside it.  It sits nicely in the child seat of the shopping trolley as I go around, or hooks onto the hook you get under the handle of many shopping trolleys.  It is really strong and when we go away for a weekend I always take it and throw lots of things in it such as my laptop, camera, book, toiletry bag, hot water bottle, etc. etc.  It never lets me down and is as sturdy as the day I bought it.............except for one part of it that seems to take the brunt of any wear and tear.

As you can see from this photo it is the handles that take the strain.  A year or so ago they started to fray and in an attempt to repair them I sewed some vintage fabric around where they had frayed.  This worked brilliantly and I even got some positive comments occasionally about the handles, from people who thought that I'd bought it like that.

It was starting to look a bit worse for wear again, one handle cover remained loosely in place, but the fabric had worn through and the other handle cover had dropped off.  I had had it on my mental to do list for ages now, I can't even remember how long, but last night I decided to just get on and do it as I do really like this basket.  The bottom of it is still sound I want to make it last as long as I possibly can.  Here's a picture of the bottom which I think is miraculously intact considering how much wear it has had.  It is obviously very well made.

Anyway, I taped the frayed handles with selotape to stop them continuing to fray and I found another bit of vintage fabric, not quite as good a match as previously used, but one I like nevertheless and was glad to find a use for.  It only took a small square which I cut in half and then folded in the ends and edges before wrapping it around the handles and pinning it in place on the handles.

 

A bit of stitching with a strong thread and hey presto!

 

 

 

My favourite basket was almost as good as new and ready to go again.  I was very happy with it.  I do love to eek out as much use as I can from my favourite things, don't you?