Simple Round Clothesline Bowl Tutorial aka Rope Bowls

 You will need some cotton clothesline. Some clothesline comes with a polyester core and some without. Your bowl will be sturdier with the poly core. There is also polyester cord aka paracord but it doesn't give the organic look regular old cotton clothesline does.
I used 3/8", 7/32" & 1/4" inch clothesline.

Your basic sewing machine with a zigzag stitch.

Size 14 sewing machine needle.

Neutral threads -whatever colors you want to use up.
This tutorial is just for a basic bowl. Any color comes from the thread.

2-5 bobbins filled with thread. This is actually a great time to use up those bobbins that are partially used up. Whenever your bobbin runs out, get up and stretch.

 I start coiling the rope on itself, utilizing four straight pins to hold my disc steady. The pins won't penetrate the poly core so just skim the pin thru on top.

I  clip a wee bit of the core out and smush the cotton fibers close. You can also utilize some glue/fraycheck to help.

 Wind until you get a 2 inch disc.

 To start a circular bowl, you'll need to wind your cord in a circle and stick some straight pins through from the side to secure. Then carefully start zigzagging so the stitch catches both coils.
At the beginning,  take two stitches, lift your presser foot, pivot, and sew another two stitches and repeat. At about 2 1/2" wide (see photo) you don't have to lift your presser foot so much and can start feeding it through on the curve.

I tried to sew over my pins at the beginning and ended up hitting one and breaking my needle. This is really the trickiest part of making the bowl. Keeping the bottom coils flat enough as you zig zag in stops and starts. Maybe pull your pin out enough as you pass and then stick it back in. The pins are only there for a few rounds.

My machine has a needle down button. The needle stays down while you pivot the disc.

My zigzag varies according to the diameter of the rope. You'll need a wider zig on wider cord. Mostly, I'm somewhere around 4.8 - 5.0 in width.
The zag is set around 4.0 - 5.0 length.

Some tutorials have you do a cross on the bottom disc with your zigzag stitches. They mostly don't show unless you are using up strong colors.

I tend to criss-cross the bottom with my zigzag until I feel it is secure. Moving pins in/out as they get in the way. Then as soon as I can see clearly, I start zigzagging around the circle joining two coils together with the zigzag stitch.

I also have my disc with the coil feeding off to the right towards me. If it goes to the left then you can stop and cut threads and flip it over to match the photos above.

Remove the pins at about 2.5". Or when you don't need them to help hold things steady.

The neutral threads don't show. If you can't sew a straight line, this simple project allows do-overs. Just sew again - right on top of your wayward stitches. They won't show, I promise.

When I first started making these bowls, I would occasionally wander in my stitching as I did the endless circles. Easy fix - just make sure thread in bobbin and spool is neutral colored like the clothesline. No one will notice.

For most bowls, I sew a flat disc until 6 inches. Then, I raise the whole bowl against the machine for several rotations. If you want steeper sides, smash that bowl against your machine. Easier sloping sides, use your left hand to gently lift as you sew.

 Sloping sides here. My hand is not lifting as I sew.

 Here is my hand gently lifting. straighter sides result. Straighter? Smush it against your sewing machine - up high.

 A close-up of my bottom - ha! not mine, the bowl's bottom. That first darker teal is where I broke the needle. The second is where I ran out of bobbin thread and started again. The thread tail got caught up in the stitching.

 Here's my wobbly stitching. Which no one has ever mentioned.
Run with it.

How to finish.

Well - you have to eventually. I liked a knot here so I sewed up to the knot as close as I could get and then back-stitched the end in place.

I've seen handles. Holes left purposely to make handles, etc.
You just sew to the place where you want a handle in place and run your zigzag so it doesn't catch the upper coil for 3 or 4 inches (5?). The handle will be a bit fuller than the previous coil so when you want to end the handle hole, you bring the outer coil down with enough give to create a visible hole. Move your zigzag stitch back so it catches both coils.  Continue sewing to the other side and repeat. It probably would be helpful to mark those places with a pin or wonder clip to keep handles at even intervals.

I have a pinterest board with several finishes I liked (K8hobbies under Rope Bowls). Some people hide the end join with a piece of leather riveted on. I tend to just make knots.

At times I hand-stitch my coils or knots down. Have fun and let your creativity loose.

The cotton clothesline does create some lint fluff. Clean out your bobbin case after you make a few.

Fabric-wrapped bowls. Pain in the patuttie. My tip? Skip the long strips. Go with 1.25" wide strips by 3 inches long. Easier to control until you've made at least one. Put a strip here and there. Use some scraps.



Notes on time and other questions:

My first bowl took a solid hour - maybe 1 1/4 hours to make the first one. The smaller one took 15 minutes.

 I had been thinking about it for months. I knew I did NOT want to try the fabric wrapped version. Other than securing the bottom and angling the bowl 'plate' UP at 6". it was very organic. Look again at my Pinterest board. I added some ideas. Odd # stripes is from landscaping and window dressing advice: group in 3's and/or 5's.

You can only sew until your bobbin runs out. I used five on the the large bowl, most of two on the small bowl.

The body hurt is all at the beginning where you are hunched over trying to get the zigzag to catch both coils. When you angle the bowl up and start the shaping, then you can consciously sit tall in your sewing chair, relax, and find your sewing rhythm. My clear foot has two red dots on it on either side of the center 'opening' (toes). I try to eyeball the dots to guide me. Staring at the neutral rope will hypnotize you.

Because of the bobbin changes, it's easy to take breaks. The designing is very organic.

Rope tips;

1. I liked the 7/32" wide cotton clothesline to begin with. The 3/8 (6/32) was a tad more fiddly. It was a different brand as well.

2. In my little town, I have four stores that sell cotton clothesline. Varying in price, thickness, and strength. Buying for me and a few 'skeins' for friend in Japan has emptied the town. Yes, I could buy online. For cheaper. But I feel clothesline is one of those staples that if we buy online, we help close another brick & mortar store. {opinionated}  I made four bowls out of what I bought. I'll wait until someone re-stocks to have another go at it.

3. A wide zigzag of 4.0 to 5.0 is good for catching both cords as you sew the bowl together. Again, the larger 7/32 cording was a great starter.

4. Your white or off-white thread disappears into the clothesline weave. If you wobble off your join line, go back and have another go at it.

5. I have a Pinterest board to help focus my 'organic' rope sewing.

6. While out researching my town, I was tempted by some turquoise para-cord but -- I don't like the feel of the polyester stuff and I can't imagine having a para-cord bowl sitting on my counter unless a grandchild made it and I had to. Neutral, organic, cotton clothesline gave me the feel I was after.

7. Have fun. Use up some thread spools.


For more inspirational photos, you can search my sidebar on the full sized web page for "Clothesline", "Rope" and "Bowls".
(Apparently I am not good at tagging projects consistently.)

Rope Tricks

 No. 4 Rope Bowl

Omg, I made a sailor's hat!    Is this too cute or what?
These bowls are totally reversible.

I sewed this one in shades of turquoise with just white on the outside. Believe it or not, I ran out of every bit of my tiny supply of off-white thread. White works too.

I was aiming for an ombre effect.


Then I used up the last of my 3/8" wide cord.
I had just under 10 feet of the 7/32" left and added it to the top of the bowl.

This ombre bowl measures about 8 inches across by 3 1/2" high - a medium-small size.
All scraps used up!

In the photo below, you can just see that change of color cord in the last two rows at the top.

I added a knot for the join and to finish the bowl off organically and hand-tacked it in place.

This is No.3 -- A Study in Orange.
This sold within a day of listing it in my Etsy shop.

I thought to add some loops to the outside and it worked quite well. This was in the 3/8" wide cording. I had to go back and re-do several spots that didn't quite catch.

 I actually quite like the heavier 7/32 on the top - it acts as a rim to the bowl.

 Rope tips;

1. I liked the 7/32" wide cotton clothesline to begin with. The 3/8 (6/32) was a tad more fiddly. It was a different brand as well.

2. In my little town, I have four stores that sell cotton clothesline. Varying in price, thickness, and strength. Buying for me and a few 'skeins' for friend in Japan has emptied the town. Yes, I could buy online. For cheaper. But I feel clothesline is one of those staples that if we buy online, we help close another brick & mortar store. {opinionated} I made four bowls out of what I bought. I'll wait until someone re-stocks to have another go at it.

3. A wide zigzag of 4.0 to 4.5 is good for catching both cords as you sew the bowl together. Again, the larger 7/32 cording was a great starter.

4. Your white or off-white thread disappears into the clothesline weave. If you wobble off your join line, go back and have another go at it.

5. I have a Pinterest board to help focus my 'organic' rope sewing.

6. While out researching my town, I was tempted by some turquoise para-cord but -- I don't like the feel of the polyester stuff and I can't imagine having a para-cord bowl sitting on my counter unless a grandchild made it and I had to. Neutral, organic, cotton clothesline gave me the feel I was after.

7. Have fun. Use up some thread spools.

I'll leave you with this.

Second Rope Bowl

 And the handle theory worked.

I was gonna throw the remaining rope out to the garage to tie up some raspberries - or something. Noticing that maybe I only used 80 feet for the big bowl, why waste the remainder of this cotton rope in the garden?

Re-threading, I tried out some metallic thread. Another tutorial had problems with it and I did at the edge of the bottom when it suddenly broke. Good time to re-thread, so I tried a variegated purple and I love how this smaller bowl turned out.

My african violet likes the bigger bowl?

 See how much smaller this bowl is?

This is how I sewed it, but I actually liked it better flipped inside out. The red at the bottom is more vibrant. This was a regular red thread in my bobbin. The metallic adds a subtle degree of sparkle but it was banished to the bottom as being too subtle.

I managed to get the handles equidistant but one was bigger than the other.

There are no mistakes with this bowl making. I threw it back under the presser foot and sewed the handle to the body for perhaps 3/8" and Ta-Da!

Beautiful.
Kathy's notes::::  This smaller bowl sewn with 4.8 width on the metallic, with 4.5 on thread change-over.    Length was 3.0 - 3.5



****Sandra was also thinking about sewing a rope bowl and had some good questions:::

Her inquiry;    "I've seen different versions of those bowls on Pinterest and I've been dying to try making one, if I can find the supplies for a reasonable price (which isn't always an easy job here in $$Canadaland$$!).  Yours is gorgeous - did you just know automatically (by feel, maybe) when to start shaping and how much to angle the rows, or did it take a while for your brain to work it out?  How hard was it on your hands and shoulders?  I get terribly hunched shoulders when I freemo quilt (although I haven't done it now in years) but my main problem now is my hands - they tend to get cranky. "

My long-winded answer:::
It took a solid hour - maybe 1 1/4 hours to make the first one. The smaller one took 15 minutes.

 I had been thinking about it for months. I knew I did NOT want to try the fabric wrapped version. Other than securing the bottom and angling the bowl 'plate' UP at 6". it was very organic. Look again at my Pinterest board. I added some ideas. Odd # stripes is from landscaping and window dressing advice: group in 3's and/or 5's.

You can only sew until your bobbin runs out. I used five on the the large bowl, most of two on the small bowl.

The body hurt is all at the beginning where you are hunched over trying to get the zigzag to catch both coils. When you angle the bowl up and start the shaping, then you can consciously sit tall in your sewing chair, relax, and find your sewing rhythm. My clear foot has two red dots on it on either side of the center 'opening' (toes). I working on letting the dots guide me.

Easier to get tense at beginning because of the curve sewing.

Because of the bobbin changes, it's easy to take breaks. The design was very organic.

I would say the body hurt of FMQ is way worse. All of these people who have awesome quilts send their quilts OUT to be FMQ'ed. They don't do all the work themselves.

Good questions!


**** lucky me: I have four places in my small town to buy cotton clothesline. 2nd and 3rd places were cheaper. I am trying some 3/16" wide stuff now. The first rope was 7/32" diameter - so a little bigger. I'll hit up the 4th place in the next day or so.

Rope Bowl

I had this on the back burner in my head for many months and finally stopped at Ace Hardware and bought the cotton cording. This cording is about 1/4" in diameter and flexes quite nicely as you sew round and round.

If you would like to make one yourself, I can assure you they are addicting as well as slightly hypnotic (endless circles). There's no one right way to make these and certainly no wrong way.
I have a Pinterest board where I keep some photos of some nice ones that were created.

 To start a circular bowl, you'll need to wind your cord in a circle and stick some straight pins through from the side to secure. Then carefully start zigzagging so the stitch catches both coils.
At the beginning,  take two stitches, lift your presser foot, pivot, and sew another two stitches and repeat. At about 2 1/2" wide (see photo) you don't have to lift your presser foot so much and can start feeding it through on the curve.

I tried to sew over my pins at the beginning and ended up hitting one and breaking my needle. This is really the trickiest part of making the bowl. Keeping the bottom coils flat enough as you zig zag in stops and starts. Maybe pull your pin out enough as you pass and then stick it back in. The pins are only there for a few rounds.

I'm not real OCD here. The tutorial I read indicated she was (ocd) and, if you are OCD as well, then you'll want to count stitches, lift the presser foot, pivot the coil, sew the same count as before so your stitching ends up a little more even than mine.

I can assure you, no one will notice and, usually, there will be an apple or two hiding the bottom anyway.

At 6" across on my flat bottom is where I started lifting the bowl up, thus creating the bowl effect. A couple of rounds of stitching and it's starting to look like a bowl.

I ran through about five bobbins of thread and switched from aqua to off-white. I also didn't match the outer to the inside. I wanted the more vibrant aqua inside with a quiet turquoise-green on the outside.  The cording is already off-white and contrasts beautifully with any color you choose. The five stripes of aqua as I sewed up the bowl cleaned out a bobbin-worth of thread.

 Based on the Pinterest tutorials that I saved, I went with a 4.8 width to my zig zag and a 3.0 length. You can adjust a teeny bit, like me to 4.3 width but any abrupt changes will show. It's up to you if that bothers you.

I will tell you, as you are going round and round, you want to make more of these to incorporate any changes you dream up.

 I wanted the sides to be a bit more straight here so I had to lift up with my left hand.
This particular cording fed very nicely allowing my right hand to keep the coils centered and the rope evenly feeding.

You can see my soft aqua on the outside here. Subtle change in color.

How to finish.

Well - you have to eventually. I liked a knot here so I sewed up to the knot as close as I could get and then back-stitched the end in place.

I've seen handles. Holes left purposely to make handles, etc.
You just sew to the place where you want a handle in place and run your zigzag so it doesn't catch the upper coil for 3 or 4 inches (5?). The handle will be a bit fuller than the previous coil so when you want to end the handle hole, you bring the outer coil down with enough give to create a visible hole. Move your zigzag stitch back so it catches both coils.  Continue sewing to the other side and repeat. It probably would be helpful to mark those places with a pin or wonder clip.

I used up nearly all of the 100 feet. Maybe 90 ft and made a good-sized bowl.
 
 My rope at Ace Hardware was not on sale and cost me $14.99. Ouch.

On the search for a cheaper alternative because now I need to send this rope to my friend in Japan so she can play too.

A close-up of my bottom - ha! not mine, the bowl's bottom. That first darker teal is where I broke the needle. The second is where I ran out of bobbin thread and started again. The thread tail got caught up in the stitching.

 I used a butt-load of thread in this project. Good thing I find lots of spools at garage sales.
Maybe five bobbins too. I filled as I went because I didn't really have a plan other than the aqua stripes. If you are organized, you could pre-fill your five bobbins beforehand.

About the stripes: I arbitrarily did five rounds ( an odd amount) but also this is where a bobbin would run out. 

The OCD person didn't like the looks of the starts and stops of the color switches all randomly around the bowl and wanted these all in the same line up the bowl. Thankfully, I don't see the stops and starts and that means I'm doing okay with my auto-immune, 'cuz OCD is a symptom when I am really stressed.

One very awesome sturdy decorative bowl.