Embroidered Rope Basket

Rope baskets are a sweet and simple way to create a blank canvas for stunning machine embroidery designs. Whether you are making your own home decor, or crafting something for a gift, follow along with the step-by-step project instructions below to make your own embroidered rope basket.

For these rope baskets it's best to use a lighter stitching design, one that is round in shape. Avoid choosing a design with solid fills or many layers of color. Designs with running stitch and only a couple layers of open fills will sew best through the density of the rope. Heavier designs will cause the thread to break more frequently.

In this tutorial, we used 7/32" Evandale Cotton Clothesline, which can be purchased online at Amazon, The Home Depot, or Walmart. Be careful to choose a rope that isn't too stiff or dense, both of which will make it harder to sew. Without feeling the rope in person, it can be hard to determine consistency. For best results, use a cord that is flexible and loose enough to coil and stitch through.

While sewing the basket, use a 1/8" wide zigzag stitch. This stitch is going to bind the rope together side by side as you coil it.

As the thread will be seen on both sides, also make sure to wind a bobbin that matches the thread being used in the top needle.

Take one end of your rope, and begin to tightly coil it clockwise around itself. The cord needs to wrap clockwise, as it will make the base and sides easier to sew under the foot of the machine as you rotate it.

Coil your rope until it is about 1" - 1-1/2" wide.

Once the coil is 1" - 1-1/2" wide, set it under the presser foot. Make sure the foot is sitting on top of the coil and that the tail of the rope is at the bottom.

It is very important to make sure the coil is still going in a clockwise direction now that it is on the machine.

With the tail directed off to the left, zigzag stitch straight across the coil. Make sure to backstitch a little at the top where you are starting to sew to make sure it doesn't unravel over time.

Where you stop sewing is very important. When you stop, the needle needs to be on the right side of the foot (not the left), and it needs to be stabbing into the center of the outer most rope at the bottom of the coil. Do not sew all the way to the outer edge of the coil.

Keep the needle down and in place, so it is stabbed through the outer most rope at the bottom, and is also on the right side of the sewing foot.

Keep the needle down and lift the presser foot. Pivot the coil until the tail of the cord is coming out toward the front of the machine. This way, as you continue to stitch, the cord will be pulled into the needle by the machine.