Pine Needle Basket Weaving--Making Unique Containers From Natural Materials

My mother lived in a small home out in the woods and she started gathering the long pine needles that were plentiful near her cabin. She soon learned the craft of pine needle basket weaving and made a number of striking-looking baskets. She lined some with fabric and added lids to others, using acorns as lid knobs. She kept some around her cabin, gave others as gifts, and sold some. As soon as I saw her unique baskets, I was captivated by them, and knew that one day, I would try my hand at it.

Pine needle basket weaving is, in fact, a centuries-old craft. The forest floor offers up a bounty of needles and for those who like working with natural materials, making baskets from these is a logical and perfect fit. The needles create a nice woven effect.

Time passed and I attempted my first basket. I've chronicled my efforts here so that others who are interested in trying to make their own baskets can follow along and see the process and avoid a problem I encountered.

You don't need a lot of materials to get started.

Thread: You will have to decide what type of thread or raffia you will use and whether you want to go with natural or colored. I decided to use light green mercerized crochet cotton because it is stiff and sturdy and I thought the color was in tune with the color of the pine needles.

Needle: Your needle should have a good-sized eye for easy threading.

Scissors: Keep scissors handy. Since this craft involves sewing, you will need them.

Towards the bottom of this article, I've provided a link to another article discussing which pine needles can be used for basket making.

• Coiling Methods: There are different methods you can use to form your basket bottom and sides.
• Stitch: You will also have to decide on a stitch, or, as I've done with this basket, use a number of stitches to get a feel for things. It doesn't hurt to experiment so that you find a stitch to your liking.
• Books: It's a good idea to pick up at least one good book to refer to and for future reference. Once you've tried your hand at fashioning a basket from pine needles, you'll likely want to create another and you may want to experiment with different and commonly-used stitches because these form such interesting-looking patterns on the outside of your basket. Instructional books offer step-by-step instructions, which makes the whole process much easier and also provide different stitches which can be used to transform ordinary into extraordinary.

When I wanted to form my basket sides, I simply moved my pine needles inwards, so that instead of adding to the row in the round, I worked them up gradually until they were on top of the previous row.

I would suggest that if you are serious about making your own baskets, you invest in this highly-rated guide. it's indispensable tips and advice will have you making baskets in no time. A book covers so much more than I touch on in this article.

Your first pine needle basket should really be a hands-on trial-run that helps you to develop a feel for basket making by actually doing it. So instead of feeling pressure to produce a usable basket, play with it and have fun.

Don't expect stellar results with your first basket. View it as your learning curve so that when you make your first real basket, you will avoid problems that are hard to foresee (as I discovered). Often it is easy to try something believing it to be workable or to read about how to do something but hands-on experience teaches us things that books don't always cover.

I thought it was easy to pick a stitch from free tutorials online. What I didn't anticipate was how that was going to look as my rows grew. Your stitches make a big difference to the look of your finished basket, so this is an important consideration.

Experiment with different stitches and different widths of gathered needles and try different materials for stitching your basket together. This way when you move on to your second basket, you will have a better idea of what you like and what you don't.

I selected a pencil-sized bundle of needles, gently bent them and started sewing them together in a coil to form the bottom of my basket. As I went along, I added more pine needles and sewed into the coil. I decided on the size for the bottom, then started up my sides.

I've included a video because it is easier to actually see how to start the bottom, rather than trying to figure it out from a description.

I removed the pine needle knobs or tips, as she does in the video, for my first basket but found that doing this made my fingernails very sore.

When I started on my second basket, I opted to leave the tips on and simply made sure that they were placed on the inside of my basket.

I found that "tips-on" made sewing easier because I could sew around them and they actually helped to secure the thread.

I was pleased with how my basket was progressing. It didn't look overly amateurish and my beading added a nice touch. Just as I was congratulating myself and feeling somewhat smug (I mean, how kewl are beads?), as my basket side grew, I noticed that it seemed wobbly and it started to become misshapen.

I was "in for a penny, in for a pound," however, so unwisely decided to continue. Mistake! I should have stopped because it only got worse!

I stared at it in disbelief. What had gone wrong?

Honestly, I felt like if I blew on it, my basket would fall over. "Fluid" sides were not what I'd had in mind when I started. My poor little basket looked somewhat inebriated.

I'll admit, at this point, I felt highly frustrated. All my bead-work was gone to waste on an eyesore. Ugh!

As you can see from the picture above, my basket did indeed look like a real pine needle basket but this first basket underscored to me that if I wanted to get into this seriously, I needed more skills at my disposal.

As I touched on above, I looked online for free stitch tutorials and went from there but as I make more baskets, I am definitely going to get a good instruction booklet. You get what you pay for and investing zero before I started resulted in a misshapen basket that really wasn't what I was hoping for. Lesson learned.

Beads can be easily added when making pine needle baskets. Work until you reach the part on your basket where you want beads to appear. Simply slip a bead over your needle and work a small stitch to secure it in place. Continue adding beads as desired.

Now, while I added beads to the basket as I went along, I decided to add beads to my finished lid. I found it difficult to get my beaded hearts even so I plan on sewing on a darker thread to outline the hearts for better definition.

I couldn't bear to throw out my misshapen basket, so I stuffed it full of potpourri. I had to be firm with that naughty basket and cram in the potpourri to plump out the caved side but it truly saved the day and prevented me from pitching it into the trash. My transformed basket now lives happily on my sideboard and guests, when they see it, have no idea that it's "shored up from the inside." So all's well that ends well.

Pine needle baskets can be sealed with beeswax, paraffin or shellac spray. This last step is optional but can protect the needles and extend their natural life.

I've included videos to give readers a feel for this process. These are not my videos. For more information, visit YouTube.

What can you use your baskets for? These baskets make unique-looking scented soap containers and as such, are attractive items for the home bathroom.

Many crafters choose to line their baskets with fabric. A velvet-lined basket can look truly special.

Some choose to make much larger baskets and because of their size, these can be used to hold any number of items.

I hope you've enjoyed this sojourn into the world of pine needle basket making and, if this is something that interests you, hopefully you will now be inspired to try your hand at it.

If you are ready to begin your first "learning" pine needle basket, please see my next hub for trouble-shooting and answers to questions you may have: Selecting and Using Pine Needles for Basket Making