Rope Bowl Tutorial

Today our Handmade Holidays gift idea is a rope bowl that you can customize with scraps of fabric and fun thread colors. Julie Forster shows us how:

Materials:

Clothesline Cotton Rope (3/16" diameter)

Glue Stick

Thread and matching bobbin

Fabric Scraps (if you want a POP of color)

Sewing machine with a zig zag stitch

Instructions:

Start a small coil of clothesline. Glue in place with the glue stick until the coil is about the size of a quarter.

Select the zig zag stitch on the sewing machine. Set the width of the zig zag wide enough to catch the center of two strands of rope side by side (on my Bernina, it is a 5).

Start in the center of the coil, backstitching to secure the thread. Sew around the coil, making sure that the zig zag stitch catches both strands of rope. If not, widen your zig zag stitch and start again from the center of the coil.

Continue winding the rope around the circle with the strand of clothesline on the right hand side of the presser foot. Once your circle gets to the size you want the base of the bowl to be, start tilting your circle towards your machine. This will create the walls of the bowl.

When your bowl is the size and height you would like, stop sewing and back stitch several zig zags to secure the thread. 

Embellishment ideas:

FABRIC SCRAPS

Wrap a scrap of fabric around the clothes line and secure with the glue stick. Continue to zigzag stitch your coil and the pop of color from your scrap will be secure.

KNOTS AND TWISTS

Backstitch several zig zags to secure the thread, add a knot or twist to the rope, then start stitching again. Or add a knot and a loop to make a handle on your bowl.

ITH CHARMS

Another embellishment you can add is eyelet charms from your favorite embroidery designer, like Parker on the Porch, and secure using a chain and clasp through an added loop or knot.