Custom Made Designer Laundry Hamper

 Since Princess number three was headed off to college and she would be needing a laundry hamper to take her wash to the laundry, I had this old Laundry hamper hanging around from the other two princess's apartments. It was just holding some of their stuff being used more as a bin than a hamper. 

Princess number three's room at college has an African theme since she brought back some fun things from her service mission last year. Click here to read about her going. Click here to read about her after going.

I found some cheetah print fabric I had and thought it would be cute to match the laundry hamper to the theme of the room. I basically just folded the fabric in half to the side measurement of the hamper. I needed the back side to be longer (similar to an envelope flap) so I could wrap it over the lid.

I just stitched the side of the fabric with right sides together as you can see on up above. It was a bit loose when I stuck the hamper in the bag so I just sewed it in a little further to make it more of a snug fit getting the hamper in the bag.

I turned the fabric with the right side out and stuck the hamper in the bag. Once it was in the bag, I just used black thread and folded the flap edges over onto the bottom like you would with the wrapping paper on a present. I just threaded some stitches through with a whip stitch to secure the flaps and make the bottom square as you can see on this close up on the right. 

I then once again, took the fabric off after sticking the lid inside the flap of fabric left over. I measured how far down the seams would need to be to make it fit snugly. 

Once the fabric was off the hamper, I folded right sides together on the flap section and sewed it in so the lid would fit in snugly. You may have to take it in a few times to make it fit tightly but just keep trying to fit the lid in the "envelope" and when it fits snugly, turn the envelope right side out. 
  
Put the hamper back in the bottom section pocket making sure the bottom is on square. I thought at first I would have to put a draw string on the inside to hold the fabric on but since I sewed it so tightly, it fit snug and I didn't need a draw string or elastic to hold it on. 

Lastly, slip the lid into the envelope pocket you sewed and stick it in the hinge slots. Test it and make sure you can open and close it easily. I like this because you can take it off and wash it if starts to smell. 

We looked at buying a laundry basket that had a zebra print draw string on it and it was $15 or more. This basket cost me nothing. I had the fabric from a "Pebbles and Bam Bam" costume I made years ago and the laundry hamper was recycled from her sisters. It took all of an hour and I wasn't working on it the entire time so it was quick, easy, inexpensive and the best part, it matches her room better than on we could buy.

You could even just use a bin and make a draw string bag that fit the bin or laundry basket inside and draw string it up to take it to the laundry room. So many options.