How I Cut Up My Fabric Scraps....

Starting with a very odd shaped piece of BLUE.....

I have no idea what was made from this piece of fabric.... I think it was given to me....  but my first action was to press it very flat.

I looked at it with an eye to my end product..... squared off pieces with no irregular edges.  I want to end up with squares and rectangles I can use in scrap quilt projects.

I started by cutting off the tiny strips..  which might be trash...

.. or, once measured, might yield

an inch-sized rectangle for my collection... so there is ONE piece for me.  Set aside in a "Blue one-inch" sandwich bag.

Next....   still working to get that one big rectangle to the left...  I trimmed off the bottom piece...

Once I trimmed the selvedge edge (which some people don't :-), I had a 2.5-inch strip.  Assuming I have no specific project in mind.... I would put it into a "Blue 2.5-inch" bag.   If I DO have a specific project that uses 2.5-inch squares, I would go ahead and trim that up and allocate the remaining scraps to bags or trash...


..And then one more piece to cut off the bottom to square up the larger piece...

This one is 4-inches - again, I would either put the strip in a "Blue 4-inch bag" or,

as in this case, I had a project, so I cut it up into 4-inch squares.  Either way works and gets put in the bag (or with the project)

Oops!  One more little piece to trim off...

..which yielded another one-inch piece...

..and there  you have it!  That large irregularly shaped piece of fabric is now in usable shapes and sizes for the projects I chose in a prior post...

I put each sorted size in a zip-top sandwich bag and then into a designated container for BLUE.    As time goes on, I will have quite a collection of the various sizes.

February was Pink Scraps

I am really having fun going through my fabrics color by color.  This is manageable - for me right now..... so on I go!

So I pulled PINK... and Valentine-specific.

The little bin in the upper left is my pink 1-inch logs...... I also have one for blues.  It is from a storage container I picked at Target with 3 stackable bins that clip onto each other.  The top bin has a plastic insert for supplies.

... pieces of the 9-patch stars...

...I am working on 2 mini-log cabin projects... one is a flag for the 4th of July (see I pulled in some red!).. and one is for Easter - though I really like one of the Valentines projects as well...   I am just about to a point where I am going to have to stop or deliberately cut some 1-inch strips.  In honesty, I know I will have plenty of 1-inch strips of the colors I need if I am patient.  As I go through the year with this plan, my collection of tiny pieces will grow.

So.... on I go....  5-inch charm squares of Valentine print and red & whites
..and a free pattern I found here on Little Lady Patchwork



...gave me a new holiday table runner!  

Simply squares.... with hearts fused on.... with scraps of insul-brite quilted in the middle...

Fabric Scrap Management Phase 3 & BLUE Scraps

Okay - Phase 3 of fabric management.....

[Link for Phase 2 click here... ]

So I am saving scraps and accumulating quite a few,

What am I going to MAKE with them?

Stage 3 happened the way the other two happened... when my 3 drawer chest and bins began to fill!  Rather than buy another bin....

I decided it was time to USE...

I knew that it would be smart to use typical pre-cut sizes - 2.5-in and 5-in. squares and strips.  And I started searching for patchwork patterns that I wanted to make!

And I found a TON!  And then had to choose what to work with..

* (1-inch)   I found a book with mini-log cabin patterns for the different seasons (that I liked) that uses 1-in strips.  The name of it is Holiday Happenings and it is available from Amazon (so please search using my link - thank you!)  So there is where I can use tiny  1-inch pieces..

* (2-inch) I found a pattern online that made potholders from a 5X5 block of 2-in squares.  ( I kind of thought I could make the blocks and on one ambitious day... turn them into gift potholders for Christmas - with the added bonus of using up the Insulbrite scraps left over from making table runners)

* (3-inch & 1.5-inch) I found a picture of a 4X4 square block with a star in the middle.  It isn't a pattern so I made up my version using 3-in squares and 1.5-inch squares for star points.


and a friend turned me on to http://superscrappy.blogspot.com/   What fun!!  She hosts a rainbow-themed block of the month.  So - I thought - COOL!  I will handle colors of scraps one at a time!  And January was blue - all shades of blue to aqua...  so I pulled everything from my stash that was a fat quarter on down.   Lots of the pieces were from sewing so I had to trim them down (I will do another post on that)

She is doing 12.5 inch star blocks with 6-inch scrap sampler center blocks. 

In honesty, I didn't understand the method for the center - but decided I had 2 choices..... spend the time to figure it out - or get busy.  I already knew how to do the star - just not the center.  BUT I COULD do a 9-patch using 2.5 in squares as a 6-inch block.... so that is what I did so I didn't have to slow down!

This block uses 2.5-in squares for the center - and 4-inch squares for the star points. 

Here are my blue potholder tops (2-in squares in a 5 X 5 block): 

Here are my 3-in scrappy star blocks (using 3-in blue squares, a 3-in white square and 1.5-in white squares to make uneven star points):

..and some of my tiny log cabin blocks:

The light blue are destined for an Easter wall hanging and the dark blue for 4th of July.... which will, of course, take a year at least to finish!

and I still had a ton of 2.5" squares so I did an 8X8 block for fun:

I don't have set plans for these blocks but they are fun - and will make nice rainbow-flavored quilts later on!  Kind of like having more fabric.....  I like possibilities - and it doesn't bother me to create without a specific end in sight :-)   Next year, I will look at all I have created and design quilts out of them.

the finished blocks have a bin of their own.... and, as you can see... I have some different size possibilities.

I started small clear boxes by color with plastic baggies of different sized strips: 1-in, 1.5-in, 2 & 2.5-in, 3 & 3.5, 4, 5, 6 and up.

I have since found a mug rug pattern for 2X6-in strips.... and a couple of other ideas as I move through the colors....

So - back to MANAGEMENT!   Small box of BLUE scraps sorted into plastic baggies by size with larger rectangles folded neatly on the bottom.

As I do other projects, I am sorting the scraps by size in baggies in another bin until I specifically do that color.

and when January ended..... I went through my big pink fabric bin and pulled these so I can keep moving!

Fabric Scrap Management Phase 2!

Phase TWO happened when the scrap bin filled up...

.....and I caught myself looking for another one!

(for the Phase ONE post, click here )


[at this time, I still had older scrap pieces still folded up with like fabric in the color bins.  My scrap bin was ONLY scraps from recent projects]


I started searching for ideas.... and decided to use a small plastic 3 drawer chest I already had for specific sized small scraps.

Something I read called for saving 2.5" strips.....
and I had seen several patterns for 2" pieces.....
and then of my scraps I had some that were ALMOST 2 inches..... 

so I ended up with 3 drawers: 1.5", 2", and 2.5"

and then small tubs for 3 inch pieces and for "over 3".... (and of course, my original scrap bin!)  Each time I cut on a project, I put the scraps away appropriately and pulled a handful of scraps from the original bin to trim up and put away.

So... I then had
one 3-drawer chest for 3 different size pieces of fabric
one small shoebox-sized bin for "3-inches and over" pieces
and the original scrap bin

So KEY to begin.....

choose SOME way to sort and start.

Don't worry about finishing or getting it right - just begin to organize in a way that makes sense to you.

Your own system will evolve if you keep a it..

I have a few more posts in this series...... so....  how did I move to phase 3?

Fabric Scrap Management Phase One

So - as some of you know, I am really getting into scraps this year.... and have asked the question - how do you manage them?

And I can honestly say that I started long ago... and have worked into a bit of a system..

But the key is

JUST START.


I've been sewing for much of my life off and on and quilting for about 7 years now.  But only seriously - like FINISH seriously for about 2 years :-)

So first - over a year ago.. I split all my fabric up into color.  And with my brain, that worked with most of the fabric - though not all!  I still can't figure out what to do with a white background and multi-floral pattern on it!  So I have one container with the "I don't know" and the special characters.. like Disney princesses or superheroes...

Everything else went by predominant color - and the test is this:  When you look at it, what color jumps out?  So a white with red dots gets put with the red because - to me - it seems more "red" than "white".  But it's your system, so see what works for you!

At that time, I didn't want to go nuts with it [I wanted to SEW], so I simply folded up scraps in the like fabric and sorted by color.  If I only had a small scrap - (less than a fat quarter), I tossed it in a tote for scraps.

This was stage ONE.  And I made sure as I worked that year, that my scraps went where they belonged.

****Stage One****  
Sort fabric by color and have a bin for anything (any color) smaller than a fat quarter.