Scrap Management

Let's talk scraps, shall we? We love them, we hate them, we love to hate them...sometimes we feel all that at the same time...am I right?

That's how I feel. Sometimes, scraps can induce guilt. After all, we paid the same price for those scraps as we did for our yardage. And I love fabric so much so I should be itching to use up all the lovelies, right? Sometimes I am. I love sewing from scraps almost as much as from my stash. But, I've been using scraps a lot this past year and thought I'd share my methods as they seem to be working well for me. Hopefully, something I share might help you in your scrap management. Or at least, you can enjoy the scrappy pictures! I don't do anything truly groundbreaking, I assure you.

First, let's address fabric storage. I keep my stash in drawers, folded to (approximately) the same size, and organized mostly by color. I have my holiday prints and my solids separate. I keep mostly fat quarters and larger in my stash, but sometimes smaller pieces depending on whether or not I feel like they might be enough to use in a pattern. I keep my scraps organized in clear plastic bins from Ikea.

I have one box of precuts (and fabrics I have "pre cut") though I should filter this bin's contents out into the other scrap bins because I just don't use precuts. The others are sorted by color: neutrals, reds/oranges, yellows/greens, blues/teals, and purples/pinks. I also keep one box that is a flex box: I use it to store scraps in the color scheme for my current scrap project. This is my one special thing I do in my scrap management, though I'm sure I'm not the only one who does this. And it stems from my habit of keeping fabrics for quilt projects together until a quilt is complete. That way I don't have to go hunting for the fabric if I miscut something or if I didn't cut enough.

I've read a lot of people that sort by size, and that recommend pressing and neatly folding scraps, and that's all very well and good. But I have young children, which means my sewing time is limited, and they sometimes play in my scrap bins. I don't have time to press scraps before storing, especially since they'll be messed up again. I'd prefer to press as needed.

Years ago, I read Bonnie Hunter's method for scrap storage and decided to try it out, and spent hours cutting my scraps to size. I started making a wonky star scrap quilt that would use some of those sized squares. But guess how much I've done with those squares, really? I still need to finish up that wonky star quilt, but it's not interesting to me right now, so it's on the back burner. Heck, it's not even on the stove, lol! The thing is, her method sounds really great. I'm sure it's very useful for a lot of people. But it wasn't useful to me because that's not how I sew. I actually let my 5-year-old take the 3-1/2" squares and start a simple quilt herself. She's having a great time and I'm glad some of them are getting used. I let my 8-year-old raid the bin sometimes too. Her tooth pillow used charm square I had cut.

I like my scrap quilts to have a coherent color scheme so sorting by color rather than size works for me. When I need a new leaders and enders project (which is what I use scraps for), I pick a pattern. The last one came from Scraps, Inc. Volume 2, and the current one came from Scraps, Inc. Volume 1. Then, I decide on a color scheme. Once I've got an idea, I start pulling scraps from my bins that look large enough and that are the colors I want. I try to not be too rigid in colors, after all, that's the beauty of scrap quilts, right? I keep all the scraps in my flex bin, and start cutting. After I've cut everything, I keep the flex bin filled, just in case I need more or decide to make it larger. I'll probably do that with my current quilt, because I have so many scraps left in the bin and I don't think it would be too hard to make it larger. It is set on point, so it won't be super easy, but that's okay. I'm sure I can figure it out.

I keep smaller pieces than I should because I don't tend to use super small pieces. If I can get a 1" square out of it, I'll probably keep it. It feels wasteful to throw them away. I also keep a tissue box full of tiny scraps for my girls. I keep thinking that they can use them to glue on to collages. They don't. Sometimes they play with them. And every once in a while, I toss the box and start again.

I think the most important thing about scraps is to keep them in a way that is functional for you and will help you use them. I learned that after trying Bonnie Hunter's method. I'm much more inclined to get excited about a quilt with a coherent color scheme and a fun pattern, and I don't tend to use precuts at all (even ones I've purchased...) so I needed something that worked well for me. So for me, organizing by color helps me get the right fabrics. It's also helpful if I only need a small piece of something like for the sampler I'm working on from Patchwork City. In that case, I'm usually looking for a specific color rather than a specific size. If you make samplers, color sorting can be helpful.

Anyway, that's my scrap management. It's worked pretty well for the past couple years, and I'm excited to share my first really big scrap project with you soon! I've just gotten the quilt back from the quilter and I need to bind it. I'm thinking it's a great time to practice using binding ends that I save so diligently (actually, lately I've been throwing them back in my scrap bins, ha!). Anyway, we'll see. So you can watch for that soon!

Now the real trick I'm finding, is what to do with garment scraps? I've been sewing more and more garments lately and knits obviously can't go in my quilting scrap bins! Hmm.