Cotton Clothesline Mini Bowls
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Become a MemberOne of my favorite projects we have created over the years is all of the beautiful baskets and bowls created with a cotton clothesline. First, we shared a tutorial for these gorgeous clothesline baskets that you can use as DIY home decor as well as a solution for organizing your household items or craft supplies. You can also create a gorgeous tote bag from the same material. One of our most popular projects is the DIY cat bed that includes a video on how to sew the clothesline with your sewing machine. But if you want to start with a smaller project, these mini bowls are for you.
Color outside the lines
Just like the baskets, you will need a cotton clothesline and a sewing machine for this project. We chose cotton clothesline with a 7/32-inch diameter that is easy to find at your local hardware store or online. But feel free to play around with different weights for your cotton clothesline mini bowls!
We originally envisioned these as perfect jewelry bowls for your bathroom, but they would also be great for kids to keep their trinkets and treasures organized. To customize your cotton clothesline mini bowls, add acrylic paint accents. If you are painting, be sure to dab the paint so that it will soak through the zig-zagged thread. Use the coil of the clothesline to help you paint a straight line around the bowl. You could also paint the outside of the bowl instead of the inside if you prefer that look.
Skill level: Beginner
Crafting tips: While you are coiling and sewing the clothesline, use your hands to manipulate the shape of the bowl as you go. This is exactly how we discovered how to form the cotton clothesline mini bowls and baskets into different shapes. For our set, we made nesting bowls so that they could stack easily.
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Tools
- Craft Scissors
- Sewing Machine
- Bobbins
- Straight Pins
- Heavy Duty Machine Needle (100/16 for Denim or Leather)
- Slim Pointy Tool
Materials
- Cotton Clothesline — 7/32 in. x 100 ft.
- Matching Thread
How to Make Cotton Clothesline Mini Bowls
- Gather your craft tools and materials.
- Cut clothesline end blunt.
- Tightly coil around 2-3 times and pin to secure.
- Set sewing machine to zig-zag stitch with a wide stitch width (4.5mm) and a medium stitch length (1.4mm).
Full tutorial available for members to download below.
Explore More
Browse some of our other sewing projects, or head to our DIY home decor section to see how you can personalize your living space! If you’re curious about the necklaces pictured above, those are our painted wooden bead necklaces. Enjoy! ~ Lia
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Discussion
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26 Comments
Do you need a heavy duty sewing machine? I don’t know anything about my hand-me-down machine, I’m afraid it won’t be tough enough.
If you use a cord that is soft, you should be okay. Test a piece first.
Good morning. I do believe these can be hand sewn. Look for instructions for pine needle baskets 🧺 and use that stitch. Guideposts.org or mother earth news.com have them and of course you tube. It uses a woven stitch so you don’t sew through the rope. Hmmm I’m getting ideas. White with red embroidery thread might be pretty. Thanks for the post. These are cute.
Yes, you can hand sew. I think the hand-sewn bowls and baskets are softer, less stiff, and still very beautiful. We have a version of this as well. https://liagriffith.com/woven-bowls/
How do you get the different color inside. Is it a separate bowl nested in the larger one? Thank you
We used acrylic paint (see step 14 of the photo tutorial), and yes we created various sizes to create nesting bowls!
Are you using a special sewing machine foot of any kind?
Nope! Just the standard.
Thanks it’s amazing,and well explained!
So glad you to hear it 🙂
Going to try these soon, how cute.
Janet Williams
They’re so easy! I’m glad you like this one 🙂
What size needle did you use? Very cute!
It’s a denim/leather needle, 100/16 🙂
Could hand sew but would be pretty long job and tedious, need strong hands. They are so cute, love interior colors, be darned handy. Would be cute hung on wall, interior showing, with different shapes and interior colors. Great project. Have wonderful rest of week
Ooh hung on a wall would sure be pretty!
These are really beautiful. And I love the colours you chose.
Thanks so much!
Could you use glue instead of sewing? I do not own nor know how to sew.
Stacy James
Sorry Stacy, glue wouldn’t work for this project. You could certainly try the same method with glue but it just wouldn’t hold up!
These are great! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, we think they are darling:-)
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