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Rita's Storage Baskets

Rita's Storage Baskets

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Rita Vail
Handquilted by Rita Vail — Cadwell, Ohio
★★★★★ 4.9 (612)
Rita's Storage Baskets

Rita's Storage Baskets

$39.00
$39.00 $89.00
SAVE $50 Sold out
Rita Vail — Hand-Embroidered Quilted Baskets · Product Information
Cadwell, Ohio · Final Collection

Every flower on it was embroidered by hand. Then it was quilted. Then it was numbered.

Rita Vail is 68. She has worked in the same barn behind her house since 1988 — one pair of hands, one machine, one hoop, somewhere past seven thousand baskets. A July storm took half the roof off that barn, and the repair quotes came back at three times what the job is worth. She isn't paying them. She's emptying the shelves instead. This is the last of it.

537Left on the shelf
8Patterns, no ninth
2 daysOf work in each one
38 yrsIn the same barn

“My mother spent twenty-two years in the thread room at an embroidery mill, matching one spool against another under a north window and saying yes or no. When it closed in 1979 she came home with a bolt of seconds and the mill's book of flower patterns. I couldn't cut into the bolt. So I traced the flowers out of the book by hand — eight pages of it — and I have been stitching them into cotton ever since. There is no ninth page.”

— Rita Vail · Cadwell, Ohio · Quilting since 1988

1What you receive

Everything that ships with your basket

The Basket

One Quilted Carrying Basket

8.66″ × 5.11″ × 4.72″. Three layers quilted through, hand-embroidered face cloth, four outside pockets, padded rim and twin handles.

Your Pattern

One of Eight, Your Choice

Sage Bloom · Cream Rose · Indigo Strawberry · Cottage Posy · Honeysuckle Cream · Wild Peony · Sweet Pea Vine · Dusty Rose.

The Tag

Numbered In Her Hand

A cloth tag stitched into the inner seam with a number written on it by Rita, plus a short note in the tissue paper.

Guarantee

90 Days, Money Back

If it isn't right when you open it, put it back in the mail inside 90 days and you get a full refund. No forms.

2The eight

Eight patterns. There is no ninth.

Each one was traced by hand from a page of her mother's mill book — Victorian furnishing florals, dense and slightly crowded, the kind of pattern meant to be looked at from three feet away. Rita named them the way her mother named thread lots: after what is in them.

Sage Bloom
Cream Rose
Indigo Strawberry
Cottage Posy
Honeysuckle Cream
Wild Peony
Sweet Pea Vine
Dusty Rose
✳ ✳ ✳
3Why this one

Six things a $12 storage bin doesn't have

Every point below is the reason one basket takes the better part of a day and a half instead of four minutes on a line.

✳ The Flowers

Embroidered Into The Cloth, Not Printed On It

Every flower is worked into the face cloth with thread, by Rita, by hand. Run your thumb across it and you feel where a petal starts. Nothing sits on the surface, so nothing can crack, flake off or wash pale — there is no printed layer to lose.

✳ Construction

Quilted Through In A Grid — Three Layers

Face cloth, batting and lining stitched through as one piece. The quilting is the structure. There is no glued-in stiffener behind a lining that lets go in year two, because there is no glue in it anywhere.

✳ Structure

It Stands Up On The Counter

It holds its own shape with weight in it and stays open instead of folding shut the moment you let go. This is the single most common complaint about fabric baskets, and it is the one thing quilting fixes for good.

✳ Handles

Padded Rim, Twin Quilted Handles

Both handles are stuffed and quilted through rather than folded flat and edge-stitched — the shortcut that makes cheap handles tear at the seam. You carry it by them, room to room, several times a day.

✳ Pockets

Four Pockets On The Outside

For the things you reach for first, so the inside doesn't turn into one pile. It is the difference between a basket you tip out and a basket you actually take things from.

✳ The Tag

A Number Nobody Else Has

Every one of the final 537 carries a cloth tag stitched into the inner seam, numbered in Rita's writing. Copies of this basket have turned up on the marketplaces. None of them has a number in it.

4Glued vs. quilted

Why the fabric basket you already own caved in

Almost every soft basket under twenty dollars is built the same way, and it fails the same way, on roughly the same schedule. It has nothing to do with how you treated it.

The $12 bin

  • One thin layer of cotton or felt
  • A stiffener glued to the back — heat-activated adhesive, ironed on
  • Sometimes a thin poly sheet dropped in the base
  • Warmth, damp and time release the bond in patches
  • The sides bow inward; the base creases once and never recovers
  • The pattern is printed on top, so it can crack and fade

Rita's basket

  • Three layers stitched through as one piece
  • No adhesive anywhere in it — nothing to come unstuck
  • The quilting itself holds the shape, loaded or empty
  • Rim and handles stuffed and quilted, not edge-folded
  • Stays open on a counter instead of collapsing shut
  • The flowers are embroidered into the cloth, not onto it

✳ Craft Note

“There are two things people mix up. A printed floral is ink lying on cloth — you can see it, you cannot feel it. Hand embroidery sits proud of the surface, and in raking light it throws its own small shadow. Quilting is separate again: three layers stitched into a grid so the padding becomes the structure. Put both together and you get something that keeps its shape for decades, because there is no bonded layer in it with a shelf life. That is what Rita has been making, one at a time, since 1988.”

Marianne Prewitt — Hand embroiderer, 31 years · Former board member, Ohio Valley Needlework Guild

5Where it ends up

What people actually do with them

Rita keeps an order book going back to 1988, and people write to tell her where theirs went. These are the ones that come up most.

✳The bathroom counter ✳Rolled washcloths for guests ✳Nightstand: glasses, cream, charger ✳A picnic for two in the garden ✳A knitting or crochet project ✳Tea on a kitchen shelf ✳The first-aid box ✳A wash bag in the suitcase ✳Nappies and wipes, room to room ✳A gift that isn't a candle
✳ ✳ ✳
6Quality promise

Five things that are true of every basket

✓
Embroidered, quilted and finished by Rita — start to end One woman, one hoop, one machine, in the same barn since 1988. No line, no second worker, no outwork. She signs off on every basket before it goes in the tissue paper.
✓
Hand embroidery, not print — and you can feel the difference Every flower is stitched into the face cloth with thread. Nothing is lying on the surface, so nothing can crack, flake or wash pale. This is the part that takes the hours.
✓
Quilted through three layers — no glue, no stiffener board Face cloth, batting and lining stitched as one. It holds its shape with weight in it and stays open on the counter. Nothing in it can quietly stop being bonded, because nothing in it was bonded.
✓
No two are alike, and that is deliberate A flower half an inch off where she meant it is not a fault. She cuts where the cloth tells her to, not where a machine would. It is how you know somebody sat down and stitched it.
✓
537 left — and no second run behind them When the barn is cleared on October 10th there is no workshop to make more in. The numbers on the cloth tags run to 537, and then they stop.
✳ Read this before you order

It is a small basket, and it is meant to be one

8.66 × 5.11 × 4.72 inches — 22 × 13 × 12 cm. That is a bathroom shelf, a nightstand, a kitchen counter, a garden table. It is not an under-bed tote and it will not hold a stack of bath towels. Rita would rather lose the sale than have it arrive as a disappointment.

What people say when it does arrive is the opposite, though, and they say it every time: it holds more than it looks like it will. One armful of the small things that never had a place — and then it carries them to the next room.

✳ ✳ ✳

90 Days, Money Back, No Questions

If it isn't right when you open it — the weight, the stitching, the colour, the size, anything at all — put it back in the mail inside 90 days and you get a full refund. One email is enough. The date on the barn does not change this.

✳ A note from the barn

Rita has never printed a shipping label in her life. For thirty-eight years the only way to get one of these was to drive out on a Thursday and pick it up at the shop room in the front of the house. The website went up at the end of July — her grandson Wes, 29, built it over a weekend to move what is on those shelves before the weather turns.

Every basket carries a cloth tag stitched into the inner seam with a number written on it in her hand. Copies have turned up on the big marketplaces, printed to look embroidered and quilted, and in a listing photograph they are hard to tell apart. Hers are sold through Marlow Market and nowhere else.

7The details

Product specifications

Material Cotton face cloth, cotton batting, cotton lining — quilted through as one piece
Surface Hand embroidery in thread. Not printed, not appliqué, not heat transfer
Construction Three-layer quilted build in a grid; padded rim; twin stuffed and quilted handles; four outside pockets; soft-sided, no stiffener board and no plastic frame
Patterns Sage Bloom · Cream Rose · Indigo Strawberry · Cottage Posy · Honeysuckle Cream · Wild Peony · Sweet Pea Vine · Dusty Rose
Size 8.66″ L × 5.11″ W × 4.72″ H (22 × 13 × 12 cm)
Fits A counter's worth of bottles, jars and brushes; rolled washcloths; a knitting project; tea and a honey jar; a full wash bag
Structure Stands up open with weight in it. It is quilted cotton and soft-sided — it is not a crate, so don't stand on it
Care Spot clean with a damp cloth. If it needs more, hand wash cool and reshape while damp, then air dry flat. Do not tumble dry — heat is hard on embroidery thread
Marking Numbered cloth tag stitched into the inner seam, written by hand
Time per piece The better part of a day and a half — embroidery first, then the quilting, then the making up
Maker Rita Vail — Cadwell, Ohio. Working in the same barn since 1988; somewhere past 7,000 baskets
Final collection 537 remain. No reorders — the barn is cleared on October 10th
Sold by Marlow Market — the only place Rita's baskets are sold
Guarantee 90-day full refund, no questions asked
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The Final Sale

Message from the Artist:

After years of making things by hand, our workshop is closing. These are the last pieces we'll ever ship. Every item on this page was made slowly, carefully, and with more love than any factory could replicate. Nothing rushed. Nothing outsourced. Just real craft from real hands.

We're proud of every single one. We hope they find good homes.

When they're gone, they're gone — and so are we.

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Shipping with UPS / USPS

Free shipping across the United States

- Delivery time: 7–14 business days
- Insured: Every package is fully insured

🌳 Carbon-neutral shipping with UPS / USPS

View full details

800+ Happy Customers

Excellent 4.9

What Rita's customers are saying

I have replaced four of these little fabric bins in about six years and every one of them caved in on the same side. This one is a completely different thing. The flowers are actually stitched into the fabric, you can feel them with your thumb, and the whole body is quilted the whole way through so it stands up on its own even when it is empty. It came wrapped in tissue with a numbered tag sewn inside. Two weeks in and it looks exactly like it did coming out of the box!!

Verified

Kayla M., Chattanooga, TN

I ordered on a Thursday and it was on my porch the following Tuesday, which I did not expect from a one woman operation. It is smaller than it looks in the photos, so read the measurements, but it swallows more than my old one did and it sits open on the counter instead of flopping shut every time I let go. My daughter saw it and asked me to order her one in the green. The embroidery is the part that surprised me, I assumed it would be printed for this price.

Verified

Diane R., Fort Wayne, IN

Bought this for my bathroom counter because I was tired of everything living in a pile next to the sink. It holds my lotion, a candle, the hairbrush, toothpaste and a washcloth and the shape has not gone soft at all. My concealer leaked in it last month and I wiped it out with a damp cloth, no stain. I have quilted for years and the stitching on this is tighter and more even than I expected, whoever made it knew what they were doing. Honestly
the only thing I would change is that I wish I had bought two.

Verified

Marissa T., Tacoma, WA

Mine lives on my nightstand and holds my glasses, my book, hand cream and the charging cable that used to end up on the floor every night. I was a little worried about ordering something handmade online because you never know what will actually turn up, but this is better than the photos. The flowers are embroidered, not printed, and the padded handles mean I can carry the whole thing to the living room without dropping half of it. Shipping
was quick and it arrived without a mark on it. For thirty nine dollars I think it is the
best thing I have bought for the house all year.

Verified

Susan H., Bozeman, MT

I have replaced four of these little fabric bins in about six years and every one of them caved in on the same side. This one is a completely different thing. The flowers are actually stitched into the fabric, you can feel them with your thumb, and the whole body is quilted the whole way through so it stands up on its own even when it is empty. It came wrapped in tissue with a numbered tag sewn inside. Two weeks in and it looks exactly like it did coming out of the box!!

Verified

Kayla M., Chattanooga, TN

I ordered on a Thursday and it was on my porch the following Tuesday, which I did not expect from a one woman operation. It is smaller than it looks in the photos, so read the measurements, but it swallows more than my old one did and it sits open on the counter instead of flopping shut every time I let go. My daughter saw it and asked me to order her one in the green. The embroidery is the part that surprised me, I assumed it would be printed for this price.

Verified

Diane R., Fort Wayne, IN

Bought this for my bathroom counter because I was tired of everything living in a pile next to the sink. It holds my lotion, a candle, the hairbrush, toothpaste and a washcloth and the shape has not gone soft at all. My concealer leaked in it last month and I wiped it out with a damp cloth, no stain. I have quilted for years and the stitching on this is tighter and more even than I expected, whoever made it knew what they were doing. Honestly
the only thing I would change is that I wish I had bought two.

Verified

Marissa T., Tacoma, WA

Mine lives on my nightstand and holds my glasses, my book, hand cream and the charging cable that used to end up on the floor every night. I was a little worried about ordering something handmade online because you never know what will actually turn up, but this is better than the photos. The flowers are embroidered, not printed, and the padded handles mean I can carry the whole thing to the living room without dropping half of it. Shipping
was quick and it arrived without a mark on it. For thirty nine dollars I think it is the
best thing I have bought for the house all year.

Verified

Susan H., Bozeman, MT

I have replaced four of these little fabric bins in about six years and every one of them caved in on the same side. This one is a completely different thing. The flowers are actually stitched into the fabric, you can feel them with your thumb, and the whole body is quilted the whole way through so it stands up on its own even when it is empty. It came wrapped in tissue with a numbered tag sewn inside. Two weeks in and it looks exactly like it did coming out of the box!!

Verified

Kayla M., Chattanooga, TN

I ordered on a Thursday and it was on my porch the following Tuesday, which I did not expect from a one woman operation. It is smaller than it looks in the photos, so read the measurements, but it swallows more than my old one did and it sits open on the counter instead of flopping shut every time I let go. My daughter saw it and asked me to order her one in the green. The embroidery is the part that surprised me, I assumed it would be printed for this price.

Verified

Diane R., Fort Wayne, IN

Bought this for my bathroom counter because I was tired of everything living in a pile next to the sink. It holds my lotion, a candle, the hairbrush, toothpaste and a washcloth and the shape has not gone soft at all. My concealer leaked in it last month and I wiped it out with a damp cloth, no stain. I have quilted for years and the stitching on this is tighter and more even than I expected, whoever made it knew what they were doing. Honestly
the only thing I would change is that I wish I had bought two.

Verified

Marissa T., Tacoma, WA

Mine lives on my nightstand and holds my glasses, my book, hand cream and the charging cable that used to end up on the floor every night. I was a little worried about ordering something handmade online because you never know what will actually turn up, but this is better than the photos. The flowers are embroidered, not printed, and the padded handles mean I can carry the whole thing to the living room without dropping half of it. Shipping
was quick and it arrived without a mark on it. For thirty nine dollars I think it is the
best thing I have bought for the house all year.

Verified

Susan H., Bozeman, MT

I have replaced four of these little fabric bins in about six years and every one of them caved in on the same side. This one is a completely different thing. The flowers are actually stitched into the fabric, you can feel them with your thumb, and the whole body is quilted the whole way through so it stands up on its own even when it is empty. It came wrapped in tissue with a numbered tag sewn inside. Two weeks in and it looks exactly like it did coming out of the box!!

Verified

Kayla M., Chattanooga, TN

I ordered on a Thursday and it was on my porch the following Tuesday, which I did not expect from a one woman operation. It is smaller than it looks in the photos, so read the measurements, but it swallows more than my old one did and it sits open on the counter instead of flopping shut every time I let go. My daughter saw it and asked me to order her one in the green. The embroidery is the part that surprised me, I assumed it would be printed for this price.

Verified

Diane R., Fort Wayne, IN

Bought this for my bathroom counter because I was tired of everything living in a pile next to the sink. It holds my lotion, a candle, the hairbrush, toothpaste and a washcloth and the shape has not gone soft at all. My concealer leaked in it last month and I wiped it out with a damp cloth, no stain. I have quilted for years and the stitching on this is tighter and more even than I expected, whoever made it knew what they were doing. Honestly
the only thing I would change is that I wish I had bought two.

Verified

Marissa T., Tacoma, WA

Mine lives on my nightstand and holds my glasses, my book, hand cream and the charging cable that used to end up on the floor every night. I was a little worried about ordering something handmade online because you never know what will actually turn up, but this is better than the photos. The flowers are embroidered, not printed, and the padded handles mean I can carry the whole thing to the living room without dropping half of it. Shipping
was quick and it arrived without a mark on it. For thirty nine dollars I think it is the
best thing I have bought for the house all year.

Verified

Susan H., Bozeman, MT

Freqquently Asked Questions

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Got a question? Here's how to reach us.

My wife and I personally respond to every single email — as fast as we possibly can. Whether you have a question about your order or just want to talk craft, we're here.

You can reach us:

  • Mon – Fri: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (CT)
  • Saturday: 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM (CT)

Email: info@craftfolk.com

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Can I return my order if I don't like it?

Of course. We stand behind everything on CraftFolk 100%. If you're not happy, neither are we. Just shoot us an email within 90 days and we'll make it right — no hassle, no headaches.

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How are your products made?

Every single product on CraftFolk is 100% handmade — crafted by hand, using only premium quality materials. We're proud to carry on a tradition of craftsmanship that has been passed down through generations.

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