DIY.. Quilted Turkey Bread Basket

The holidays are inching closer and closer.. As a Canadian living in the USA, I love this time of year.  From mid November until Christmas there are so many festivities that it makes me giddy. Parties, TV specials, turkey, food, hot chocolate, wine ..

Well hello turkey! Timeless Treasures and Pellon loved my Quilted Chicken Bread Basket from last year and asked me to come up with a Thanksgiving version.. I had to wrap my head around this one and find the differences between a turkey and a chicken. I wasn’t sure what this quilted version should look like. I googled “what do turkeys look like” [ yes, I did..] and came up with a bunch of images for inspiration. After I figured out what my turkey should look like, this became a lot of fun.

Timeless Treasures sent me a selection of their holiday line of fabric to use for this little guy.  Their gold patterned fabric was PERFECT for the turkey body while their tonal solids were great for everywhere else.

Materials Needed:

1. 2 colors cotton fabric – 1/2 yard each
2. Fabric scraps – for the features and tail
3. 1/4″ elastic
4. 2 small buttons for the eyes
5. Double fold bias tape – home-made or store bought
6. Rotary cutter, cutting mat and quilting ruler
7. Chaco quilting marker
8. Quilt basting spray
9. Fusible Batting – Pellon TP971F
10. Heavy Duty Wonder-Under
11. Sewing machine and sewing supplies
12. Iron and ironing board
13. Small oval basket – no handles

A few things to consider before we get started…

• This is more of a inspirational post.. Check out my full chicken tutorial from last November. You can also download the PDF version from the Pellon Projects website.
• I quilted the turkey body and wing fabric. Want to quilt your own fabric?? No problem, check out my easy tutorial here.

Ok.. Let the fun begin.

Step 1 – Lay the chicken and wing pattern pieces on the quilted material and cut out.. Important – mirror your pieces.

Step 2 – Cut bias tape for each wing and also the ovals. Pin, sew the bias tape around the oval and then tuck the tail under/towards the back and backstitch.

Step 3 – Make little fabric sandwiches for the face and tail pieces.. Cut out 2 small pieces of fabric, iron interfacing to one side and then place a piece of Wonder-Under on TOP of the interfacing. Peel the lining from the Wonder-Under and lay the other fabric scrap on top. Press together. “Sandwich”

Step 4 –  Cut the turkey face and tail pieces from the “sandwich” fabric. I used the chicken pattern pieces [found on the Pellon website] for reference and tweaked the details. Topstitch around the outside edge for stability.

Step 5 – Fold the beak in half. Place the beak and wattle [ little dangly thing] pieces onto the turkey’s face. Place the tail at the back. Note that all pieces face INWARDS.. When you sew the turkey together and turn right side out, they will pop outwards.

Step 6 – Pin the wing in place just above the oval. Adjust accordingly and make sure it fully covers the oval hole. Stitch down. Start the stitch approximately 1″ from the wing tip and end 1″ from the the oval center front. Repeat for the other wing.

Step 7 – Place turkey right sides together. Make sure the face and tail features do not sit in the 1/2″ seam allowance. Pin. Place into sewing machine and stitch with a 1/2″ seam allowance. Press seams. Measure and turn up bottom seam 1/2″. Pin. Place into sewing machine and edge stitch. Leave a small 1″ opening for the elastic. Turn right side out. Wiggle the corners into place. Press.

Step 8 – Cut approximately 15″ of elastic. Place a pin at one end and insert into the opening. Pull through entirely. Adjust gathers. Sew elastic together as well the the opening shut.

Step 9- Sew your button eyes in place.

That’s it. While this is a bread basket cover.. think of all the different uses. I thought I’d try cookies this time around. Not sure the cookies will last in my house, my toddler found the turkey last night and sure had fun pulling a cookies out.

Happy Thanksgiving!