What To Do With Small Scraps?

What do you do with small scraps, or "crumbs" as some people call them?

I am a hoarder, as my husband calls me, of fabric. I love and breathe fabric! I can not look at a piece without touching it or wanting to buy it, if available and affordable. Way back when I started sewing my own clothes, I started thinking what should I do with the left over fabric?

Here comes my two aunts to the rescue. They made a lot of their own clothes if not all of them. One aunt suggested I save my pieces and coordinate them in color so I could piece a blouse, jacket or pants. After she said this, she showed me a top that had 20 pieces! She made it from scraps of her previous projects. It was really nice. I was very impressed that she had the mind set and patience to piece together a pattern that would look nice. The color scheme was great and she used a lot of top stitching so that the pieces looked like part of the design. I loved it! But, I did not want to put that much thought and effort into the design and all that top stitching!!!  After all, I was just a teenager and patience was not one of my virtues.

Then I went over to the other aunt's house and she was working on a "crazy" quilt. I inquired as to what pattern she was using and why she had so many colors and sizes of fabrics.  She told me when she makes an outfit, the left over scraps go into her quilt scrap bin saving them for a "crazy" quilt. I was fascinated by the twists, turns, colors and designs of the various fabrics and the fact there was very little planning other than which fabric you liked next to which fabric. I WAS HOOKED!!!

My fabric saving obsession started then. It was my aunt's fault for introducing me to saving the smallest scraps. Larger scraps for sewing together into a pieced or "crazy" quilt and smaller scraps for applique. I knew about quilting squares but had never heard of  "crazy" quilting . . .this was before the internet and the abundance of quilting magazines that we have now.

Today I would like to show you a sample of the pieces that I acquire while cutting fabric for customers.
These are some pieces that I have left over . . .

How I trim these down is what I will be showing you today. In the picture above right I had just finished cutting hexagons. You can clearly see some triangles, diamonds and some strips that can be cut from these pieces.  But what about pieces that are not so clearly defined? Here is an example . . .

I found this piece and was thinking to cut a long strip across the top. Then I noticed that if I used my
quarter square ruler I could cut a fairly large triangle.  I use two rulers when cutting difficult triangles. The quarter square triangle and half square triangle ruler.  After I cut this piece into a quarter square triangle I used the half square ruler because presently I am trying to cut a lot of half square triangles.

This picture shows a piece that has a tear in it . . .

Too bad it would have made a very nice large triangle. No matter, just move the half square ruler over a bit and cut away.

Here is a circle that didn't quite meet standards and I don't need a circle but need a triangle in this fabric. . .

Line it up with the edge of the circle and cut both sides to give you an angle. It will look like this . . .

Once you have this angle flip it so that it will look like this . . . 

Now you have an edge where you can line up your half square triangle ruler and finish cutting a triangle.

I hope this little tutorial will help you figure out what to do with your scraps. If you have any questions, please email me through the contact form on this blog. I will be happy to help.

Just Scrappin Around!

I am working on my scrappy string basket weave quilt.  As "feeder" blocks or strips, I use my crumbs from the strings sewn onto strips cut from used printer paper. I have a plan for these. I am also making square in a square that finish at 2" for the cornerstones of my crumb strips. These are not my original ideas. I am borrowing from Bonnie Hunter's last quilt cam broadcast.

Here are my cute little square in a square 2 " blocks . . .

 

 and all my crumb triangles. . . Can you see some of the fabrics repeated in each patch?

and my crumb strips. . .

Notice the printed paper? That is actually a health manual that I get every year from my insurance company.  It is about 2 inches thick. You know me, I hate to throw paper away! I cut it down to use for my crumb strips.  I even use letters that come in the mail. They are usually 8 1/2 x 11 paper.  After I finish the project and am stripping the paper away, I save them to use as "kindling" for my wood burning heat stove.

Several people have asked me -- where do I get so many scraps (crumbs) from?  When I cut fabric for my customers I end up with a lot of bags full of scraps!

Here is a picture of the green scraps left from cutting fabric orders.I have several bags of these scraps sorted by color.

This is what the scraps looked like after cutting a hexagon order . . .

 

Can you see the possibilities? There are triangles on the bottom and top; diamonds in the middle and if I cut carefully, I can get a couple of strips from the fold.

Here I am just starting to cut the scraps apart. I usually do this while "listening" to tv with my husband.

One Triangle done!

Here is what I have after I am finished cutting the scrap "sheet" that was left after cutting the hexagons for a customer. Quite a bit of fabric. Isn't it? Combine these with other colors and I get a new quilt, table runner, placemat, pot holder, sewing machine cover, etc. The possibilities are endless!

Of course you have to like working with small pieces, which I do! I guess my grandmother's frugal gene is firmly planted in me.  She made her small pieced quilts out of necessity from old clothing, as did many of our grandmothers and foremothers.  But as a quilter, I couldn't see all this fabric go to waste. My string basket weave quilt, crumb strips and square in a square are all being made from these "scraps"!

If you look at a previous posting about my granddaughter's baby doll quilt, that is made from these scraps too!

Enjoy your quilting . . . scrappy or otherwise!

Aveli