Full Page Basketweave mesh

Sometimes people ask me where I get ideas for my designs - ideas are everywhere...here is an example



I was looking at a quilting catalog and this pattern caught my eye. The design is simple - created from rectangles - but there is an optical illusion creating the look of a woven basket. I decided to try this out in Design Studio - I collected Longaberger baskets for years and I am sure I could do a few layouts using this as a background.

It took a little math to figure out the pattern - basically, the width of the rectangles and the bordering bars have to match up so that the horizontal rectangles, including their bars are the same height as the vertical rectangles without their bars. Hard to explain in words but here is the design on the mat after cutting



Because this is a full page cut you will need to go in and trim around the edges. Below you can see the area that remains uncut.



Use small sharp scissors and take your time, working your way around the mat. Line the scissors up so that you are cutting straight into the line cut by the Cricut.



It is a bit tedious but not difficult - take a break if you get tired of it!



When you are finally done it will look like this



Starting at a corner, gently lift up the mesh - it helps to bend the mat back slightly as you do this



Continue to loosen and lift just the mesh - I recommend a good sturdy cardstock like Bazzill for this to avoid the frustration of having any tears in the paper



You will have 49 rectangles measuring 1 inch by 1 1/2 inch remaining on your mat



I lifted these carefully and stored them in an empty Studio G $1 stamp sleeve (I never throw those away - they are so handy for keeping small things together). If you don't happen to have any of those sleeves, you can use a small zipper bag. I will think up a project for these leftovers - watch this space!



You will also have the miscellaneous bits that were cut from the edges - these end up in a shallow tray on my worktable and will be used when I need just a bit of brown to back something else - most likely on a card....



When I first designed this cut, I carefully centered it side to side but forgot to center it top and bottom and this was the result



You get the basketweave effect but it is "off" - so I went back to the file and shifted everything (this is why I always test cut my files before posting - I don't want to make more work for you by sharing!) I included this photo so you could see how it looks in two shades of green - the cut is dark green and I placed it on light green for the photo.

Since this is a full page cut designed for the Expression I used Plantin Schoolbook. If you have the baby bug and George you can duplicate this - if I get a chance I will do another file but here is what you need to do....take the George square and stretch it to 1 inch by 1 1/2 inches. The George rectangle has a history of causing the "red X" error so I avoid it at all times!

Take my file and "save as" with you new title and create a new page after my page to use to build your mesh. Simply place the George rectangles in the same positions on your new page - after getting a few placed you can "copy" and "paste" and just adjust the location using the x and y coordinates in the Shape Properties box. Once you have reached the six inch line - the limits of the baby bug mat - change the mat size to 6 x 12 and delete the first page.

If you have the baby bug and happen to have Plantin Schoolbook you can simply change the mat size on my file and cut only the 6 x 12 area.

Basketweave Mesh