Creative articles about quilting

Old Block Quilt-Along, Part 23: Hanging Basket


Andrea from Quiltmanufaktur and author for the German BERNINA blog is your guide for this fantastic quilt-along over the next 12 months. Together, you will sew classic patchwork blocks and combine them into a sampler. The completed quilt will be traditional, yet modern! The next part has been written and we are delighted that you join this quilt project.


The next block for the Old Block Quilt-Along that I would like to show you today is called “Hanging Basket”.

This block might look familiar to you. There are countless versions of the “Hanging Basket” block. Most of them are sewn diagonally, as we are doing here in the quilt-along. However, there are also a few that lie straight on the square block layout.

(Source: Rose Lea Alboum: An American Legacy Quilt Index)

I chose the classic version. In the original, the area above the basket is made of background fabric. When I sewed my block, however, I liked the idea of filling this area with a floral fabric. You are free to decide for yourself! I also added the extra sections above the basket because otherwise the basket looks really huge…

I have taken this block from the book “The Quilter’s Album of Patchwork Patterns” by Jinny Beyer, which I already introduced to you when we made the “Constellation” block. There, it is mentioned that Jonathan Holstein identified the first appearance of this block as 1902 in his book “The Pieced Quilt, an American Design Tradition”. This block was also published on August 14, 1937 in the “Kansas City Star”.

We are sewing the “Hanging Basket” patchwork block

This patchwork block is made using foundation paper piecing templates and pattern templates.

Download the patchwork templates

For cutting out, I have created three PDF documents to download:

  • The first is a coloring sheet. This allows you to try out colors and designs for this block to see what they look like.
  • On the second PDF you will find the templates for the foundation paper piecing
  • and on the third you will find the pattern templates.

On the PDFs with the FPP templates and the pattern templates, I have put a control square with a side length of 1 inch so that you can check whether your printout of the templates is the right size. It is important to set your print options to “Actual size”.

Here are the downloads:

“Hanging Basket” coloring sheet

“Hanging Basket” FPP templates

“Hanging Basket” pattern templates

Cutting out the pattern pieces

You will need to cut out the following pieces:

  • Pattern piece A: 2 x patterned fabric / 2 x background fabric
  • Pattern piece B: 2 x background fabric
  • Pattern piece C: 2 x background fabric
  • Pattern piece D: 1 x background fabric
  • Pattern piece F: 2 x patterned fabric
  • Pattern piece G: 1 x patterned fabric or background fabric
  • Pattern piece H: 1 x patterned fabric

Sewing the “Hanging Basket” patchwork block

First, sew the two foundation paper piecing sections. Then lay out all the pieces according to the block pattern.

I then joined the four pieces in the top left corner and, in the same step, attached the left side of the FPP to the middle triangle. 

If you do several possible steps in one, you don’t have to keep ironing each piece separately and getting up to iron each time!

Then sew the upper FPP section onto the triangle.

Next, sew on the oblong piece under the middle triangle.

I then attached the basket piece to the middle piece.

Now close the panel seams between the two background fabrics and the feet of the basket.

Sew the two resulting side pieces onto the center block. At the same time, you can attach the top strip of background fabric to the piece with the small squares.

The background triangle below the basket on the bottom right is sewn on next.

In the penultimate step, sew on the left background strip.

Finally, join the top background strip to the square piece.

This beautiful old block with a new look is now finished!

You will have seen by now how different a block like this can look, depending on which fabrics, colors and prints you use, so once again I’m really excited to see your interpretations of this block. Make your own “Hanging Basket” block and post it here in the Community area of the BERNINA blog, on Instagram or on Facebook – wherever you prefer to show us your beautiful creations. Don’t forget to tag your picture with the hashtag #BERNINAOldBlockSampler on the social media channels!

New here?

Have you only just discovered the quilt-along? No problem! You can join at any time. Registration is not required, and you can win a BERNINA 570 QE! All the posts will remain permanently available:

In the first post, which was the invitation to participate in the quilt-along, you will find the important initial information about our joint project:

Old Block Quilt-Along – who’s in?

You can find the rest of the blocks from the quilt-along that have already been published here:

Old Block Quilt-Along – overview of all the posts

I’m glad you’re taking part and I hope to see more wonderful pictures of your blocks!

See you soon,
Andrea

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