Uses for Fabric Scraps

I wanted to show you a couple of things I have made recently to use the fabric and batting scraps I have.

 

These hearts are made from the leftover batting strips from  the last quilt I made, Zou. This is the trimmings from the quilt sandwich. I covered the rest of the batting from other scraps and sewed them down, then cut them into shapes and added the rickrack. Pinking shears add a nice decorative edge. They can be used to decorate a holiday tree or a banner, used as prayer flags ,or given out as gifts. There is also a Facebook group called I found a quilted heart, where people leave these types of hearts out as a say to brighten someone's day and people can post the ones they find.

The rest of the batting strips and fabric waste can be used to make these Scrappy Balls. Basically just roll them into balls and decorate. This one is made from scraps of quilts I made earlier this year. It isn't finished, and other people are able to make really cute ones. There is also a Facebook group called Scrappy Balls that show you the pretty decorations people have made. They make great bowl fillers, pin cushions, toys for dogs or children, etc.

 Over the last few years, I have been following the Konmari approach to decluttering. Touch everything and decide whether you want it to live in your home. I have a big house and I am going at a slow pace, one shelf, drawer or box at a time.  I saved the sewing supplies for last because I knew they would be difficult for me. I haven't finished with the basement, but I think I will feel better if I do the sewing space first because it will be more useful to me.

The last few weeks, I have been working in the upstairs sewing storage room, a few minutes at a time. 

Yesterday, I grabbed a small box of fabric scraps and started processing them.  Most of the scraps in this box were things other people would just have thrown away as trash. When I make projects like the ones I showed you earlier in the post, I make them right away. I don't usually keep trash in a box, but I think this box was meant to be trash that was supposed to be thrown away, but I wound up having some usable pieces in it too.

That's what I did with them too, just throw them away. I don't store little fabric or batting snippets because I know that I can get new ones whenever I want.  

I don't like to cut pieces into certain shapes for the future because I always wonder if I might need some other size. What if I need 5 3/8" instead of 5 1/4"?  So what I do is cut for specific scrap quilts. That way, I know that piece has a place to be, and I know exactly what size I need. It is best to cut for scrap quilts you already have in the works. Do as I say, not as I do.

 

Most of my scrap quilts in process are 1 1/2" pieces and I wanted something that uses bigger pieces. I came across this quilt pattern by Michelle Mckillop called Unallocated. When you put it on point, the light and the dark triangles form lines which looks really good to me. My quilt may not look like hers because I am letting the fabric scraps dictate where they will fit in the quilt based on their size, so although I will have a light and dark triangle per block, the side strips are not all mediums. Hopefully it will work out though. And again because of the size of the fabric, I am not using the same fabric to sash the block. I will try to make it the way she did as much as possible.

 

 

I realize this new project just took me farther from my goal, but the year is young.