Seriously. I have in these three bins (and a little on the table) scraps from all of the quilting over the past eight years. I thought I was doing well keeping it color sorted in plastic bags in the bins on a shelf. As it turns out these scraps have bred. Well not really but it sure feels like it. Now that I am sorting and organizing I really need to get a handle on all of these scraps. I try not to buy new fabric well at least less than I used to and only for a very specific purpose:0
Any ideas short of throwing them all away?
Help!
I'm in the process of using up scraps. My mom has a craft show in a month and said us girls can contribute, so I decided doll quilts and baby bibs, all sewn from my scraps (posting pictures soon on my blog). I've sewn some scrappy ones, some by color, all rough (no exact cutting). I've had some left over blocks from other quilting projects and I've used those too. I'm also doing some stuff with my Christmas scrap box. However, 5 doll quilts and 3 Christmas wall hangings later my stash doesn't seem to have shrunk by much. With Phil gone, I should get a lot done at night now. You could just do scrappy baby quilts and pillow cases to have as back ups. Or you could pre cut 2 or 3 inch squares and put them in a box. Rent a movie and start cutting! Sounds like fun, why don't you just come here and do that for a weekend.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to see that my sewing room isn't the only one in disarray. No matter how I try to keep it organized it just doesn't stay that way.
ReplyDeleteAs for scraps, I have a similar problem and have been looking for ways to use them. My mom suggested making baby quilt tops (rail fence or log cabin) and then donating them to the stake to be made into quilts for humanitarian aid. In her stake she is in charge of humanitarian aid and actually takes scraps and hands them out to others to make quilts and they give the tops back and then she re-hands them out to be tied. The humanitarian office closest to you might also just take the scraps, I don't know but you could check.
Another idea is to make "softies" and donate them to humanitarian aid, the instructions are on the website. They are really fast and don't require very much fabric.
My mother in law stores her scraps in clear boxes all sorted by colors. Remember her closet? It is quite nice, and you can see everything.
ReplyDeleteI have a million and one ideas for quilts with scraps, but no means to really access my scraps with me sewing in the multi-function dining room/home office/sewing studio (all on the same table).
ReplyDeleteI do suggest sorting them by colour, and if possible by size. Everyone has a different definition of scrap (anything from a 1 by 1 inch piece all the way up to anything less that a FQ for me) but I would always sort by colour first.
quilt with them, of course!
ReplyDeleteI'm aching for a flying geese quilt with white, lately, and those aren't so easily done by strip quilting (that wants bigger pieces), are they?
ziploc by color...
I think they're lovely.
Rainbow baby quilts.
Though I like the pillowcase idea. Make it a strictly pillowcase Christmas: everyone gets one: VTees, mother, kids...
I loved this scrappy quilt
ReplyDeletehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/blairpeter/weblog/~3/22RQxYqEz7M/stash-value-quilt.html
(even though wisecraft sometimes bugs me, she does have vgood quilting taste, so I share though it's not necessarily an endorsement...)
Quilts of Valor. Check it out. http://www.qovf.org/
ReplyDeleteGreat way to use scraps.