I love to give gift hampers and whilst on a recent trip to the Yasawa Islands, I was lucky enough to see an inspiring basket weaving demonstration which really grabbed my attention.
I am a huge fan of botanical prints and anything natural and luckily I had a camera to hand to cover this amazing project.
I was so impressed that I started having crazy ideas about running my gift wrapping courses in a tropical climate covering gift hampers with a bit of basket weaving thrown in!
The basket was made out of part of a palm tree leaf, and I realise that sadly many of us don’t have access to a palm tree in the back garden.
Firstly you cut approximately one third of the bottom of the leaf including stem (you will need a really large carving knife for this so it’s not something you can easily take away on holiday to do this!)
The palm leaf will consist of a thick stem with a row of leaves either side. You will start on the first side of the leaf brading in leaves in 3’s working your way along. Suni our lovely demonstrator made this look so easy!
It will resemble a really clean herringbone pattern as shown here.
You will then repeat the same the opposite side.
With both sides of the leaf now braided you will need to bring the two edges together. You will then start braiding this all the way across.
You will then plait the two ends of the leaf (as you would long hair) then cut the ends neatly.
It will now resemble an oval weaves balloon shape. Take the carving knife and cut out the middle of the stem along the leaf.
Some of the stem will remain each side to act as a border.
Bring the 2 long plaited ends together and double knot the ends together so you have a good size handle
The middle stem that has been cut out but can also act as a shoulder axel to carry the basket if it’s heavy.
Even though I don’t currently live in a tropical climate, I love this idea and it would be a great hamper idea filled with fresh fruit or to store towels in a guest room
You can also use it as a base for a hamper and add some clear
cellophane and raffia to decorate. You will find some hamper ideas in my book ‘
giftwrapped‘
I also noticed lots of other ideas on Pinterest including a fresh bowl made from palm tree leaves (courtesy of
Erin Bouma)
Another idea is a neat woven door wreath (courtesy of Crafty and Beyond ) and I love the one below by Coastal Living
After the hectic 2014, I had a thoroughly good holiday and have come back ready to face the world.
This is another exciting year with lots in the pipeline and we will keep you posted!
From myself and my team we would like to wish you all a very happy and healthy 2015
Jane x
How do you preserve the baskets? You you put a coating of something over it so the palms last a long time?
They cure naturally and can be rubbed with coconut oil if desired