Wicker Laundry BasketsRustic Amish Woven Clothes Hampers

An Amish wicker laundry basket is a handwoven basket built to be carried full: rattan reed woven over a solid hardwood bottom about a half inch thick, a hardwood rim, and leather handles riveted through the weave, so a wet load of towels rides up the stairs without the basket giving. Ours are woven by Old Order Amish families on the Iowa-Missouri border, and every one is signed on the bottom by the weaver who made it. One owner wrote that her corner hamper, bought seven or eight years before, was still like new.

The family splits by one question: do you carry it, or does it stand in the room? The open carry baskets have leather handles. The Vintage Wicker Laundry Basket (22 x 16 1/2 x 12 inches) is the classic, a full washer load; the 2 Bushel Laundry Basket (27 x 18 x 13 1/2) is the biggest, two bushels, a whole machine load in one trip; the Extra Large Round Basket (18 inches across, 14 tall) holds a bushel and a half; the Medium Wicker Laundry Basket (18 x 14 x 9 1/2) fits a shelf or the back seat; the Farmhouse Laundry Basket (19 1/2 x 15 1/2 x 10) is the oval one; the Narrow Wicker Laundry Basket is 12 inches wide for a closet shelf or under a bench; and the Tall Laundry Basket (17 across, 18 tall) stands beside the washer. The 2-Pack Laundry Storage Baskets is two of the narrow baskets sold as a pair, sorted lights and darks on top of the machine.

The hampers are lidded baskets that stand in the bedroom or bath and keep a week of laundry out of sight. The Wicker Hamper with Lid (18 inches across, 26 1/2 tall) with its lift-off wood lid is the round one; the Corner Hamper (17 1/4 inches on each side, 26 1/2 tall) tucks into a corner; the Large Hamper with Hinged Lid (21 x 17 1/2 x 22) has a hinged split lid that opens from either side; and the Oval Laundry Hamper (25 x 17 x 25 1/2) is the oval one. All of them are gathered on the hampers with lids page, with the carry baskets that take an optional lid.

The liner is sold separately, and you can add it any time

Every basket ships unlined, so the wicker shows inside; a hand-sewn cotton liner made for that basket is sold on its page and on the basket liners page. The women in the community sew each liner to its basket's shape from pre-shrunk cotton, it comes out to go in the wash, and it does two jobs: nothing catches on the reed, and the load lifts out in one piece and goes straight into the machine. Plenty of laundry baskets go out with a liner, and plenty get one later. You did not miss your chance: order it from the basket's page and it ships on its own.

Lids: hinged, lift-off, or added later

The Large Hamper with Hinged Lid has a hinged lid in two halves, so it opens from either side or lifts off whole. The Wicker Hamper with Lid, the Corner Hamper and the Oval Laundry Hamper have solid wood lids that lift off by a knob; one owner turns her corner lid over for a corner table. The 2 Bushel Laundry Basket, the Vintage Wicker Laundry Basket, the Medium Wicker Laundry Basket, the Narrow Wicker Laundry Basket and the 2-Pack Laundry Storage Baskets come open and take a lift-off lid made for each one, sold on their pages. The round basket, the farmhouse basket and the tall basket have no lid. Lids are solid wood, the same as the bottoms; there are no woven lids in this family.

Sizes are measured outside, at the top

Baskets taper, so the length and width we print are the widest point, the outside of the rim, and the height is the basket without the handles. The bottom of the hinged hamper is 16 1/2 x 12 1/2 under a 21 x 17 1/2 top; the tall basket narrows from 17 inches at the rim to 12 1/2 at the base. Every basket is woven freehand, so allow about a half inch either way, three quarters on the biggest ones. If the space is tight, measure it first: a closet shelf takes the 12 inch narrow basket, a bathroom corner takes the corner hamper, and the top of a washer takes the 2-pack side by side.

What a bushel means here

A bushel is the old dry measure, a little over nine gallons. The narrow basket holds about a bushel and a quarter, roughly 12 gallons, a complete washer load without pressing down. The round basket and the tall basket hold about a bushel and a half. The 2 Bushel holds two, about 18 gallons, which is why families with a big machine buy it: one basket, one trip. The round hamper holds a complete set of double bed sheets with the pillowcases and still has room, as one owner measured it.

Wood bottoms, wheels and damp rooms

The bottom is solid hardwood, about a half inch thick, which is where the strength comes from and why an owner who wants a rolling hamper can screw casters to it at home; we do not fit wheels ourselves. The baskets are made for dry laundry indoors: a damp towel goes to the machine, not the hamper, and the liner washes. Dust the weave, keep it out of standing water, and a light lemon-oil spray about once a year feeds the reed. Every basket carries our lifetime guarantee, ships free, and comes back no questions asked if it is not right.