Basket Weaving Techniques: Expanding Your Basket when Twining

When I was first learning how to twine as a beginning basket maker, I was always on the hunt for different tips and techniques. One day, while at TJ Maxx, I started looking at imported baskets and seeing how they were made.  And suddenly, I saw what I've come to call a "u-shaped" method of expanding your basket when twining.  

Why should I add spokes to my basket when twining?
That's a great question!  If you're creating a straight cylinder, you might not need to as you can keep the same amount of spokes and shape from top to bottom. But, if you're like me and you like more bulbous or gourd-shaped baskets, you have a need to go from a small start with just 3 or 4 stakes into a wider, growing bottom, giving you that beautiful bulbous look.  To do that, you'll need more spokes as you grow wider to keep your basketry stitches looking beautiful, tight, and somewhat equidistant. Below is a step by step tutorial on how to do this. 

Of course, this is just one part of learning to twine well. If you want to learn to twine baskets with natural materials like foliage or other natural materials, be sure to grab my comprehensive online basket weaving course called "Twining with Soft Natural Materials."  And, since you're here on my website reading this article, just use the coupon code "NewSubscriber75" to get a 75% discount as my thank you.

Step 1
Once you're into your basket about 3-5 rows, you'll start to notice the stakes are getting wider and wider apart, making your weaving loose. (See image below). That's when it's time to add some additional spokes.

Step 2
Cut a spoke the same length and width as what you started with and, from behind, place it in the gap. (See below) Yes, it's loose and unattached at this point but don't worry. Just go ahead and weave it in as normal. 

Step 3
Now that you've woven the first part of this new spoke in, continue to weave and bring the other end of the new stake up into the next gap on the other side of the next existing spoke in your basket. You can see below what that should look like.

So just to review, you add in #1 which is new, weave #2 which is existing and then bring #3 around from the back which is the other end of the new spoke.  Then continue weaving.

Inside View
Here's what that newly attached u-shaped spoke should look like from the inside of the basket. Since you'll be adding multiple u-shaped spokes, try to keep your u-shape consistent throughout the basket. In this small-size basket, I would only add 4-6 U-shaped expansion spokes at a time. Otherwise, you'll expand too quickly and see it from the outside of the basket. That's not what we're going for. You're doing for a seamless transition, invisible to the glance.

Here's what all 4 u-shaped expansion spokes look like. Notice, they blend on the inside and they are invisible from the outside.  Once in, you just continue weaving as normal. If you continue to widen your basket, you could add more and more of these rows as needed. Again, just make sure you don't add to many at once so it causes you to notice the expansion spokes.

See the bottom side of the finished basket below with no easily visible transitions between the existing spokes and the new ones I added in with this method.

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