Vintage Picnic Basket

A few months ago, I found a really junky but functional picnic basket at the thrift outlet store.  Yes…apparently Goodwill has an outlet store.  This is where the crappy of the crappiest stuff goes after it doesn’t sell in the main store, kind of like Ross, but extremely stinky.  They don’t even have prices; it just sells by the pound.  I went in one day to check it out, and I can say with confidence that I will never go back. 

But while there, I did see this picnic basket, with a nasty old lining, and thought, what the heck?  It was $0.50.

And guess what…when I was surfing for ideas, I found this for sale for $40.00!  

http://jdvintageprops.com/prop/picnic-basket-double-hinged/

This is the EXACT basket I just bought for $.50.

I was thinking of spray painting it white, or a light yellow, and making a new lining out of some cute modern fabric.

But this is not what ended up happening.

I took the existing lining out and cut it into it’s pieces.  Then, I measured all the pieces, adding a ½ inch to each side for the seams.

Then I picked some fabrics I had on hand (no time to go shop for new stuff), and I cut them out to the dimensions, and sewed the whole thing together.

Then I put it in the picnic basket….and it didn't fit.

So I blinked a bunch of times trying to figure out where I went wrong, and finally, I just dropped it all on my cutting table and walked away.

So I still don’t have a cute picnic basket, and don’t know when I’ll feel like trying again.  The only comfort is knowing that I paid $0.50 for something that someone is trying to sell for $40!  Maybe if I decide not to try the lining again, I'll just sell it on Etsy!