Lining A Wicker Laundry Hamper With Plastic For The Nursery

Some suggestions for lining and attaching plastic sheeting to a wicker laundry hamper to be used in a baby's nursery.

Wet or soiled clothes can damage a good wicker hamper, so when using one in the baby's nursery, line it with plastic to prevent mold or mildew to the wicker. Sometimes hampers come with the plastic already lining the interior of the hamper, but if not, it's easy to insert the plastic yourself. Use a heavy plastic to prevent tears. To begin, measure the hamper, then transfer the measurements to the plastic, or wrap the plastic around all four sides of the hamper, allowing a couple of extra inches for seaming. Also, cut the plastic to be an inch or two above the hamper so there will be enough excess to fold down and fasten inside the hamper. Hampers come in all shapes and sizes, so take this into consideration when designing the interior plastic lining of the hamper in your baby's nursery. Some hampers are larger around at the top than they are at the bottom. For this type of hamper, you'll first attach the two sides of the plastic together by gluing or sewing. If the plastic is thick, it should be no problem to sew it without doing any damage to your machine, but you might want to use binding tape to prevent the needle holes from ripping. To do this, lay the plastic out to where the two edges are laying next to each other. Align the binding tape on one edge of the plastic and sew the tape all the way down, to the plastic. Now go back to the top and align the second edge of the binding tape to the other plastic piece, sewing all the way down. You should now have plastic which lays flat, with the tape holding the two plastic edges together. Now fold the plastic lengthways, then lengthways again. Sew across the bottom of the folds, using binding. This time, wrap the binding tape around all the edges at once, then sew across the top edge of the tape, while catching the bottom edge of the tape at the same time.

Now when you open the plastic, it will form a hamper shape which is wider at the top and smaller at the bottom. Turn it right side out, where the sewn seams won't show, then insert it into the hamper. Since the plastic was cut a few extra inches taller than the hamper, fold the plastic down to where the edge will be between the hamper and the interior plastic. You can use small staples to attach the plastic and it can also be handsewn or glued into the hamper. Hot glue is okay, but tends to melt the plastic while burning fingers. White glue can be used, but you'll have to have some giant clamps to hold the plastic in place until dry. Stapling is the quickest and easiest way to attach the plastic - if the wicker is woven to where you can do this. If not, hand stitching the plastic into place is perfect, but a little more time-consuming than stapling or gluing. To hand stitch, use pieces of tape to hold the plastic into place, then sew until you come to a piece of tape, remove it, and keep going. While sewing, use double thread and start the needle on the inside, through the plastic. Cut as close to the knot as possible without severing it. Continue out through the openings of the wicker, then overlap one bamboo shoot, and insert the needle back to the inside. Continue this process until you are finished sewing the plastic into the hamper.

Another way to make a plastic liner is to follow the above instructions, but instead of adhering the plastic lining to the hamper, sew elastic to the plastic, around the top. Cut the plastic, seam the sides, then fold the plastic down, and down again, laying half-inch elastic on top and binding tape on the bottom. Sew the elastic to the plastic, pulling slightly on the elastic while stitching. When done, back stitch to help hold the stitches in place. Now, turn the plastic right side out and insert into the hamper, stretching the elastic over the edges of the hamper top. For laundering purposes, the plastic can now be removed, washed in warm, soapy water, and hung up to dry before re-inserting into the hamper.

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