People buy a basket for blankets by looking at the diameter. That is the wrong number to start with. The thing that decides whether a basket works for blankets is the shape of the opening and how you fold what goes in it, and both of those get settled before diameter matters at all.
Roll them. Do not fold them.
A folded throw is a rectangle. A basket is a circle. Put one inside the other and you waste every corner, and you end up with a stack where the only blanket you can reach is the one on top. Pull the bottom one out and the stack collapses.
Rolled, a throw becomes a cylinder that stands on its end. Three or four cylinders stand in a round basket the way bottles stand in a crate, and you can lift any one of them out without disturbing the others. It also looks better, because what shows above the rim is a row of spiral ends rather than a squashed pile.
The catch is that most people roll a blanket the wrong way and end up with something too long to stand up.
How to roll one so it actually stands
Take a throw at roughly 50 by 60 inches. Fold it in half lengthwise, then in half lengthwise again. You now have a strip about 12 or 13 inches wide and five feet long. Roll it from one short end. The finished roll is 12 to 13 inches tall and somewhere around five to six inches across, depending on how thick the blanket is and how tight you rolled it.
That height is not an accident of the example. Twelve to thirteen inches is the height of a large basket, which means the roll stands upright and finishes level with the rim. In a taller basket it sits an inch or two below the rim, which is what you want — the basket frames the blanket instead of the blanket spilling over.
If your throw is longer, fold it lengthwise a third time before rolling. If it is a chunky knit, expect a fatter roll and fewer of them per basket. A fine, lightweight throw rolls down to four or five inches across; a heavy woven one will not go below seven.
Capacity by size
These are the three sizes I stock, with what each one actually holds once the blankets are rolled properly.
| Size | Dimensions | Rolled throws | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medium | 10–11" diameter × 10–11" high | 1, or 2 if they are fine | One throw beside a reading chair |
| Large | 12–13" diameter × 12–13" high | 2 comfortably, 3 tight | The everyday sofa basket |
| X-Large | 14–15" diameter × 14–15" high | 3 comfortably, 4 tight | A shared living room, or seasonal storage |
If you are buying for one sofa and one household, the large is the size to get. The x-large is the right answer when more than two people pull a blanket off the pile, or when you are storing the winter ones through summer.
These sizes nest, so a medium and a large together take the floor footprint of the large alone when you are not using both. That matters more than people expect in a small room.
The shape rule that rules baskets out
A basket with a narrow neck — a wide belly drawing up to a small opening — is a beautiful object and a bad blanket basket. You cannot get a rolled throw through the mouth, and if you force a folded one in you cannot get it back out without a fight. Those shapes are made for dried stems, or for standing on their own as a piece.
What you want for blankets is a straight or gently flared mouth, where the opening is the widest part of the basket or close to it. Check the profile in the photo before you check the dimensions. A basket that tapers inward at the top has already disqualified itself no matter how large it is.
Do not overstuff it
A handwoven grass basket has no rigid frame. What holds its shape is the weave itself and a plaited braid worked around the top edge. Pack it past capacity and the rim splays outward, and once it has been held open like that for a few months it does not fully spring back.
The working rule: if you have to compress a blanket to get it in, it does not go in. Buy the next size up, or use two baskets. Three rolls sitting easy in an x-large will look better and last longer than four rolls jammed in.
Natural fiber, storing natural fiber
An open woven basket is a better home for wool and alpaca than a sealed plastic bin, because natural fibers want air. Shut a throw in an airtight container for a season and it comes out smelling like the container.
Two things to avoid. Never put a blanket in a basket damp — not fresh from a wash, not after it has been out on a porch in fog. Moisture held against grass fiber stains it and will eventually weaken the weave, and the blanket will not dry properly either. And do not leave a fine fiber compressed under real weight for months at a time; rolls stood on end press against each other only lightly, which is the whole reason rolling beats stacking for long storage.
The rest of the basket care — dusting, spot cleaning, keeping it out of direct sun — I have written up separately in how to clean and care for handwoven baskets.
Where that leaves you
Work it in this order. Check the mouth is as wide as the body. Roll rather than fold, folding lengthwise until the strip is under 14 inches wide. Then pick the size from how many blankets are actually in circulation, not how many you own — the ones that live in the closet do not need to be in the basket.
If you are still deciding on the blanket itself rather than the basket, I have written about what size throw blanket you need, which covers what each length actually covers and where a throw stops being a throw. And if the basket is going to hold a plant instead, the sizing works differently — that one is in what size basket you need for a potted plant.
