How to Make a Vintage Woven Basket Gallery Wall

I remember seeing woven baskets at my Nonnie and Great Aunt’s house when I was younger. Never did I think that they would end up being a trendy part of decor. 

I also never thought that I would be the kind of person to have a basket wall, but they’ve grown on me in the last couple years. 

It wasn’t until I moved into my Calgary apartment that I really had the room for a basket wall. I decided that I wanted to put one in my sewing room since I had a large wall above my pull out couch that needed some art! 

There are a lot of different sources to buy your woven baskets from, which I’ll get into below. I’ll also talk about how to lay out and style your vintage woven basket wall. My basket wall also has a couple of other needlework elements included in it, so there will be a mini DIY tutorial for that as well!

My biggest piece of advice when starting to curate a basket wall is that it’s best to collect pieces over time. I’ve often found that when I’ve tried to force a collection of things to happen it ends up only having a couple pieces that I love. The rest of the pieces are usually just ok because I’ve scrambled to get it done quickly. Thus, I’ve settled on things that I’m not entirely happy with. So, trust me, it’s worth the wait!

Gather Inspiration

Of course one of my favourite places to gather inspiration is Pinterest, so I’d recommend looking there. When looking keep in mind the size of the space that you have for your basket wall. Also think about the colours that you have in your space. Do you want to include some of those colours in your basket wall? Or do you want the wall to be more natural tones of the baskets? I’d also look and see if you want to include any pattern in your woven basket wall. There are some really interesting baskets from different cultures so look out for those as they can add a really nice touch. Bonus points if you have any of these baskets from previous travel. 

What to Include in Your Vintage Woven Basket Wal;

I’ve seen a lot of basket walls that just include vintage woven baskets. While I love the simplicity of these basket walls, I chose to include a few different items in mine. One of the things that I included was a cross stitch that I did last year (that you can buy here). It works in the basket wall because it’s got a similar circular shape. It also mimics some of the crochet hoops that I’ve included in the basket wall (more on that below).

Other items that you could include in your basket wall are woven trivets. They often come in square and circular shapes, so they make an interesting addition. They are also lower in profile than a lot of the baskets you’ll find. This offers some variation in the height of your baskets and creates visual interest. 

Where to Buy Items for Your Woven Basket Wall

Value Village / Thrift Stores

One of my favourite places to buy items for my woven basket walls is, of course, thrifting. I mainly go to Value Village and take a look in the home goods/kitchen section. I’ve been able to find a few here, but I do find that you have to check the stores often to see what they have. There are so many people interested in making basket walls now that they can sometimes be a little harder to find! When shopping for baskets or trivets at Value Village, I wouldn’t pay more than a few dollars for smaller baskets. I’d also pay no more than about $8 for larger baskets. Always check to make sure that the baskets are in good condition and that none of the weaving is coming out. 

Facebook Marketplace

About eight of my baskets were found on Facebook Marketplace. I really like marketplace when looking for baskets because I’ve found a few people that sell them as sets. This is a great way to find a set that’s more curated because sellers often group similar baskets together. This is a great option if you’re not super confident about putting together a set of your own! I had a lot of success with the baskets that I found on marketplace because there were a ton of different sizes, shapes and colours. This made it a lot easier for me to put together my basket wall quickly because someone else had already done the work of putting a set of them together. My only caution when looking on marketplace is that people sometimes charge a bit of a premium for the sets that they’ve put together. So, try to stick to similar pricing that you would pay at Value Village! 

Vintage Instagram Sellers

I’ve become a pretty big fan of buying things from vintage Instagram sellers in my area. I’ve found that they often have really great collections of pieces. They’re also usually willing to work with you to help find things. I know a couple in my area that are always willing to source things for their followers. It’s also really nice to know that you’re buying from a person. Oftentimes that’s partially how they support themselves so you can feel good buying something from them. It’s also really nice to have a relationship with the people who are selling these items! 

Your Grandparents

A lot of the baskets/trivets/items that you’d want to include in your basket wall are probably hiding in your grandparents homes! I know mine definitely had some, so see if they’d be willing to give you one. I think it’s also worth checking in their basements to see if there is anything lying around down there that you could ask to have. I’ve often found that my grandparents or great aunt’s homes often have a lot of treasures hiding down there! 

Crochet Embroidery Hoop DIY

This is more of a loosely structured DIY inspiration, but it’s super easy to do. It’s also really easy to customize!

I initially made these crochet embroidery hoops for the balcony of my Toronto apartment that I renovated. They looked quite good there over the summer and really added to the boho feel that the space had.

Supplies: 

• 5 embroidery hoops in various widths 
• fine weight cotton yarn 
• crochet hooks (2.75-5mm)
• scissors 
• tapestry needle
• patterns to follow (see my needlepoint Pinterest board for inspiration)

Notes:

• The patterns that you want to use are totally up to you, but in general, I used a larger crochet hook to crochet the circles for the larger hoops and a smaller more delicate crochet hook for the smaller hoops. Multiple hooks aren’t entirely necessary, you just may find that you’d like to use varying sizes. 

Instructions:

1. Select a circular crochet pattern that has a finished size that’s about an inch smaller than your embroidery hoop. 
2. Follow the pattern until you’ve crocheted a circle, leaving about 1m of yarn as a tail so we can attach the circle to the embroidery hoop.
3. Now, take the end of your work and wrap it around the inner circle of your embroidery hoop. If your circle shape has various points around it then your going to securely attach each point around the wood hoop. If your circle is an even circle all the way around, try to space your stitches evenly around the circumference of the embroidery hoop. We’re going for a dreamcatcher sort of look. 
4. Once that’s done, tie a knot and secure your work.
5. Attach the outer embroidery hoop with the hook and tighten it so that it’s secure. 

Your crochet embroidery hoops are now ready to be hung! 

How to Hang Your Basket Wall

Once you’ve gathered all the pieces that you want to include in your basket wall, I’d recommend laying them out on the floor in the order that you think you want them. Take a photo and then play with the placement a bit and move some of them around. Everytime you’ve created a layout take a photo. Then come back to that photo a couple hours later and determine which is your favourite. This isn’t absolutely necessary, but I find that looking at something with fresh eyes is helpful. 

But, be warned. If you lay your baskets out on the floor and you have a cat, your cat will most likely jump into them. However, it will be adorable.

When you’ve settled on a layout that you like start hanging your baskets. I used small finishing nails for mine. A lot of the basket that I have have a small lip on the bottom so they hang very well from that. If your baskets don’t have a lip then you can hammer the nail on the inside of the basket in between the weaving. 

Overall I’m super happy with how my basket wall looks and I love the texture that it adds to my sewing room!

 

I’d love to know if you’d hang a basket wall in your home! 

• Tess

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