A Colorful Quilled Gift Basket

My first ever quilling project... I wanted to make something different, so designed, redesigned and came up with this design of a quilled gift basket.

Though it looks very complex, this basket is made with simple shapes glued together to make it colorful and attractive. In this instructable, I have explained each and every step with photographs, so that anybody can understand and make this at their home.

The following are the materials and tools required for this project

• Different colors of 5 mm size Quilling Ribbons
• A Quilling Slotted Tool
• Quilling Comb
• Quilling Board
• Quilling Crimping Tool
• Scissors
• Quilling Silicon Glue (or) Fevicol Synthetic Resin Adhesive

There are many other quilling tools also available which you many require for other quilling projects

You have to start the quilling project from a base. Here I have used a loosely wound multi-colored scroll as a base. I have used yellow, white and blue colored quilling ribbons. You can use any colors of your choice.

• Take one piece each of yellow, white and blue quilling ribbons
• Stick them together to make a longer single piece using glue
• Using the Slotted Tool, wind the yellow ribbon to make a tight coil
• Apply a drop of glue at the end of yellow ribbon, press and hold together
• Now wind the rest of the ribbon around the slotted tool and remove from the tool.

I wanted to make a loosely wound scroll, so I placed the coil in a larger circle sizing guide of a quilling board, applied glue on top of the coil and allowed it to dry. Now my base scroll is ready.

We will build a flower shape around the base scroll. For this I have used 12 numbers of double-colored tear drops.

• Take one piece each of blue and white quilling ribbons and join them together using glue
• Hook the free end of the blue ribbon on the bottom tine of the comb. Here I have started from number 15. you can start from the other end also.
• Bring the long end of the ribbon over the 14th tine, apply little glue and press together
• Now you can start weaving the ribbon over the tines from 15 to 13, 15 to 12, 15 to 11 and so on till you reach the desired length. Here, I did up to number 2 on the comb.
• Apply little amount of glue at the free end, press and hold over the woven teardrop for a few seconds

Now our teardrop is ready. Make 12 numbers of these to the same length with same colors.

We need to attach all 12 numbers of these teardrops with the base scroll to form a flower pattern.

• On a drawing paper or a board, draw perpendicular lines bisecting each other
• Place the base scroll at the center
• Align two of the teardrops opposite to each other along the line on the sides of the scroll
• Apply glue at the joints and allow them to dry
• Now align another set of teardrops over the line perpendicular to above
• Apply glue and allow them to dry
• Align the remaining 8 numbers of teardrops at two numbers in-between the already glued teardrops
• Apply glue to all the joints and allow to dry

Now our base flower pattern is ready.

• using a single piece of yellow colored quilling ribbon, make a circle around the flower pattern we made earlier.
• Apply glue at the tips of teardrops touching the circle one by one and allow to dry

The empty spaces in-between the teardrops need some short of quilled patterns to make it more attractive.

• Take a piece of red quilling ribbon
• Run it through the quilling crimping tool. You have an attractive piece of crimped ribbon
• An half of this crimped ribbon is enough, so cut it in to two halves.
• You need 12 pieces, so crimp 6 ribbons and cut them to make 12 pieces
• Take a piece of crimped ribbon and make the pattern as shown in the picture with your fingers
• Insert this pattern in the space between the teardrops. Continue all around.

The Last picture shows the completed piece after this step.

The crimped ribbon inside the flower pattern has created four partitions between the teardrops. We will fill up three of these gaps with smaller teardrops.

• Take a blue ribbon and cut it into halves
• Make a tight scroll using the slotted tool
• Remove scroll from the slotted tool and place it in a circle sizing guide of the quilling board
• Remove it from the sizing guide and press with your fingers to make a teardrop
• Apply glue at the loose end and press with fingers
• Place these teardrops in the empty spaces as shown in the picture

This step is same as the previous one, but we will be using white ribbon to make the teardrops and place them in the remaining gaps with the narrow end facing inwards

• Take a white ribbon and cut it into halves.
• Make a tight scroll using the slotted tool.
• Remove scroll from the slotted tool and place it in a circle sizing guide of the quilling board
• Remove it from the sizing guide and press with your fingers to make a teardrop
• Apply glue at the loose end and press with fingers
• Place these teardrops in the empty spaces as shown in the picture

Now our bottom portion of the gift basket is completed in all respects

Bottom portion of the gift basket is completed. Let us build the sides of the basket. To start with I have used apricot and olive colored ribbons for the eye shapes. You can choose any color of your choice.

• Take pieces of apricot and olive colored ribbons and stick them together. You need 24 such pieces
• You need to wind these pieces around the quilling comb to form the eye. The tines in the comb I have is numbered from 1 to 15. To form the eye I will start from number 8, the center tine.
• Hook the olive colored end of the ribbon over the 8th tine and apply glue
• Start winding the ribbon around the comb, increasing one tine on both ends at a time. That is 7 to 9, 6 to 10, 5 to 11, 4 to 12, 3 to 13 and 2 to 14.
• You can trim away any excess ribbon at this point.
• Apply glue on the loose end and press with your fingers
• Slowly remove from the comb and press both ends lightly to form the desired shape.

Make 24 numbers of such eyes. You need to pair two of these eyes together to form a 'V' shape

• Apply glue at inner bottom of each piece
• Press with fingers to form a 'V' shape as shown in picture

Now we got 12 pieces of paired eyes

The 12 pieces of 'V' shaped eyes will be used to form the verticals

• Apply glue at the bottom of the 'V' shaped eyes
• Stick it over the ribbon used for circling the bottom piece, exactly opposite to the tip of the teardrops in the flower pattern
• Continue with attaching the 'V' shapes. Also apply glue on top portion of the 'V' shapes and stick with the adjoining piece. please refer to the pictures to see how it is done
• You can continue adding the pairs around the bottom piece, gluing the tops of adjoining pieces with each other.
• Lightly press the glued joints with your fingers and hold for a few seconds for the glue to dry

The last picture shows the completed piece after this step.

In this step, we will attach teardrops made with blue ribbon at the center of each 'V; shapes

• Take a piece of blue ribbon
• Roll over the end tine of quilling comb and apply glue
• Weave the ribbon over the comb to form teardrop. You need to care here. When we attach this teardrop between those 'V' shapes, the height should be level with the top of already formed vertical
• Here, I have started from the number 1 tine and finished weaving at the 9th tine on the comb
• Remove teardrop from the comb, place it between the 'V's and check with a ruler. If the height is ok, then you can make teardrops to the same size and glue them between the 'V's.

The last picture shows the completed basket after this step.

There is a visible gap between the blue teardrop and the slanted eyes of the 'V'. Let us fill this gap with smaller sized teardrops using white ribbon.

• Take half a length of white ribbon
• Make a tight scroll using the slotted tool
• Remove from the slotted tool and press with your fingers to form a teardrop
• Apply glue at the loose end and press with fingers to dry
• You need 24 numbers of such teardrops. Stick them all around the vertical using glue

The last picture shows the completed piece after this step

There are gaps left at the bottom between the 'V' shaped slanting eyes. We will fill this gap also using apricot colored teardrops.

• Take a piece of apricot colored ribbon
• Roll over the number 1 tine on the comb and apply glue
• Wind over the comb to make teardrops. Length will be same as the white vertical, that is up to the 9th tine
• Invert the semi-completed basket and stick at the center of the 'V' as shown in the picture
• Make it all around to complete the basket

You can see the views from different angles of the completed basket

The Gift Basket is completed in all respects. However I thought of adding a small handle so that we can easily move the basket without disturbing the quilled patterns. For this I have used some leftover ribbons of different colors

• Run a bunch of different colored ribbons through the crimping tool
• Measure with the already completed basket and trim to the desired curved length
• Attach this over the basket with a drop of gum at each end

Now our quilled Gift Basket is complete in all respects

Either you can fill up the basket with chocolates or with flowers, this beautifully quilled, home-made basket will make a perfect gift for any occasion.

This is my first quilling project I have ever made. I wanted to do something different and watched many youtube videos, gone through many articles about quilling tools & materials, how to use those tools and how to make different shapes using the quilling tools. Also went shopping and collected the required material and tools from a hobby shop for this project.

For those newbies who are interested in quilling, below are some of the useful links:

How to use Basic Quilling Tools

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF45zfPMdAc

How to Make Basic Quilling Shapes - Tutorial Part 1 for Beginners

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wULr0mYYr8c

How to Make Basic Quilling Scrolls - Tutorial Part 2 for Beginners

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc4zcMNZFao