Scraps No More

I was lamenting to Lori the other day about all my bags of scraps and how useless they are, mostly because I don't remember I have them, and I don't like digging through bags to try and find something suitable, so I go buy more fabric, which is fun, but not necessarily frugal or even necessary. She told me a great idea for organizing my scraps, and then I read another good idea in the latest issue of American Patchwork and Quilting that I will also pass along for any who may not have read it.

Lori's idea is to take all your scraps and cut them into the largest usable size you can. You need to decide at the outset how small your smallest scrap will be. Personally, I don't think I'm going smaller than 1.5 inches, as that will make a one-inch finished square. That's small enough for me. So, utilizing Lori's plan, if you have a scrap that is smaller than a half-yard but bigger than a fat quarter, the first "scrap" you would cut is a fat quarter. Then from the remaining fabric you would cut squares as large as you can until the scrap is used up, and any itsy-bitsy leftover pieces you can feel good about throwing away.

Any fat quarters can then be put with your fat quarter stash, and the remaining squares can be sorted according to both size and color. For example, you might have a shoe box or Rubbermaid container, whatever, for all your eight-inch blocks, and within that container, blocks of different colors would be in different Ziploc bags. Or, conversely, you could have a container for all yellow fabrics, for example, with Ziploc bags for each size. I'm not sure which would be more useful. I suppose everyone will have their own preference.

The second idea for organizing scraps comes from Kathie Holland, whose quilt, "Scrap Happy" appears in the October 2008 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting magazine. Kathie buys half-yard cuts of fabrics, and then when she gets home, she cuts that half-yard into two fat quarters. One fat quarter she leaves as is, and the other fat quarter she cuts into strips of 6.5, 4.5, 3.5, and 1.5 inches. I haven't done the math, but I assume that uses up all the fat quarter. She organizes her stash then according to widths, not color. Kathie says this method gives her fabric to use for nearly any application, piecing or applique, including up to an 18-inch square from the fat quarter. For those of us who love the scrappy look, this is an awesome way to organize those fabrics.

I'm planning to use a combination of the two methods. If I have a half-yard of fabric, I will cut it like Kathie recommends. If my scrap is less, I will cut it into strips or squares as per Lori's suggestion. If the strip is long enough to be useable, I will keep it as a strip. If not, it then becomes a square. I think I want to organize by color and then by size, so my boxes will contain all strips or squares of one color, then organized by size.

I have a lot of work ahead of me to organize my fabric this way, but I think when I'm finished I will be amazed at how much fabric I have. I am hoping it will inspire me to make a lot more scrappy projects, as I love that look. Scrap on, quilters, scrap on!