After every sewing project you will be left with fabric scraps and/or off cuts. What do you do with them? You could toss them in the garbage or save them for future projects. If you are a novice sewer you may be wondering “is saving fabric scraps worth it”?

Material

If you sew with cotton, polyester, nylon, cotton blends, fleece and/or interfacing, you may be considering saving your scraps. I find it helps to separate scraps of different materials from each other. While I didn’t separate quilting weight cotton from broadcloth, I do separate cotton canvas from the other weights of cotton. I also separate batting, fusible fleece and fusible interfacing from all other materials.

Size

It’s obvious that large scraps have a higher likelihood of being repurposed than small ones. But how small is too small to be saved? The answer to that question is specific to each sewer and is based on the types of scraps they generate and the types of projects they could potentially use the scraps for. It’s also wise to consider how much space you have to store your scraps and the sizes of the scraps you’ll likely  be saving. Generally speaking, only save scraps in the sizes that you’ll actually be able to use.

For reference, the QuestioningQuilter defines “scraps” as pieces that are big enough to cut into usable squares or strips, “crumbs” as smaller pieces that could be sewn together into blocks and, “shreds” as the tiny bits of fabric left over from trimming blocks.

Shape

You could store you scraps in the sizes and shapes they were when you cut out your pattern pieces, or you could cut your scraps into more useful shapes.

Pat Sloan from The Voice of Quilting cuts her scraps into

• 5″ squares
• 3.5″ squares
• 2.5″ squares
• 2″ squares
• 2.5″ width-of-fabric strips.

The QuestioningQuilter cuts scraps into

• 5” squares,
• 4” squares,
• 3” inch squares,
• 2 “ squares,
• strips

 

However you choose to shape your scraps, keep in mind that scraps smaller than 1/2 inch along any direction will completely disappear in the seam allowance of your next project.

Irregularly shaped pieces that can’t be cut into 2” square scraps or 1” crumbs  may still have their uses.

Organization & Storing

There many ways to organize and store your fabric scraps. Scraps can be organized by material, size, shape and colour. You can store prints separate from solids, or store everything in the same colour family together.

Here are some storage examples.

• Clear boxes or baskets (lidded ones keep you scraps from getting dusty)
• mason jars
• zip top bags
• plastic carts with clear drawers
• a drawer with dividers
• hanging shoe organizers or under-the-bed shoe organizers
• stackable office supply baskets
• wire mesh baskets
• clear plastic food containers

I store my fusible fleece and fusible interfacing in clear plastic bags in the drawers where I store the bulk of these materials. Similarly my nylon scraps are stored in plastic bags in the drawers with the rest of the nylon.

My larger scraps (~fat quarters) are stored in three-drawer carts and are separated by fabric type (cotton, canvas, blends). One cart has prints and the other has solids.

I throw smaller scraps into a fabric storage bucket that I made from scraps.

When the bucket gets full, I cut the scraps into squares and rectangles and separate solids from prints. I have a pair of scrap baskets that I made from scraps for this purpose. I store the solids in the scrap basket made from solid scraps and the prints in the scrap basket made from print scraps.

Using

Most of the examples for using scraps on the internet talk about using fabric scraps. You can also save scraps of fusible fleece, fusible interfacing, batting and fleece. I used several small pieces of fusible interfacing to interface a larger piece of fabric by overlapping the edges of the fusible interfacing by ~2mm.

I joined several scraps of fusible fleece together by aligning the edges and zigzagging along them. Similarly, I butted together the edges of batting and zigzagged over them. All together I had enough fusible fleece and non-fusible fleece to make a second quilt-as-you-go (QAGY) Pouch.

You can create yardage by sewing square and rectangular scraps together, I used this technique to create a Scrap Bucket Basket.

Another method for creating yardage is to fuse fabric scraps onto fusible interfacing and then zigzag over the edges of each scrap. I’m using this method to turn a large quantity of irregularly shaped scraps into yardage. It’s both a time intensive and thread intensive but seems to create a sturdy fabric.

If you have fusible fleece, batting or fleece, you can create yardage by sewing scraps onto this backing fabric using the quilt-as-you-go method.

There are also many sewing projects that use scraps without requiring you to create yardage first. Examples include:

• practice fabric for other projects
• pincushions
• tiny lined drawstring bags
• zipper pouches
• key fobs
• pattern weights
• scrap buckets
• scrappy ornaments
• glorified scrap basket
• mug rugs
• fabric bookmarks
• earbud pouches
• hand warmers
• cord keepers
• greeting cards

Dealing With Unwanted Scraps

What if you have scraps you don’t want? InColorOrder  has some suggestions for dealing with unwanted scraps.

• stuff them into a pillow, pincushion or softie
• trade or give them away
• sell them
• donate them to your local library/school/community group/neighbours
• share them with a retreat or your local quilt guild

Conclusion

Saving fabric scraps is worth it if you are going to use the scraps for other projects or get them to someone who will. It also prevents fabrics from going into the landfill unnecessarily. Save those scraps you’ll actually use and organize and store them in a way that works for you. There are many projects that can use your scraps of fabric, fusible interfacing, fusible fleece, and batting.

How do you store your fabric scraps? What have you made with fabric scraps? Comment below and/Pin Me for later. Subscribe so you don’t miss a post.

Tanya

 

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