How do you keep your scrap fabric under control?
They are produced with every project
and can easily overwhelm your sewing space.
The secret to controlling scraps
is to have a process to deal with them
and get them into your projects and off to a good home.
And by popular demand,
I am showing you my process for dealing with scraps.
So stick with me and I'll show you how to do it.
(melodious upbeat music)
Hi, I'm Karen Brown of Just Get It Done Quilts.
I give you tips, tricks and strategies
to help you make the quilt that you want to make.
And if you like what you see
please click that subscribe button.
Having a process and a purpose for your scraps
is key for keeping them under control.
It's not about eliminating your Mt Scrapmore,
it's about stopping it from growing.
When you are deciding upon a system to use
the important point is to keep it simple
because consistency is crucial
and if it's too complicated you just won't do it.
And design it for you
and what, and how you like to quilt.
Today, I am showing you my system
so that you can see how scraps flow through my sewing room
into quilts and out the door.
There are three major points in quilt making
when you need to consider your scraps.
When my top is complete
this is the first point
that I start dealing with the remains.
While making the top I collect all my scraps
into one bag or bucket.
I keep them all in one place,
just in case I need to repair a block or make an extra one.
But now the top is done, it's time to sort the leftovers.
I make a pile of my yardage
then my fat quarters,
pieces of fat quarters,
strips and a pile of crumbs.
I tidy everything up sorting by size
then I tidy up the edges.
To make it all easier I'm giving some of them a press too.
And when I see what I have, I do the following.
I find it easier to make the label now from my scraps
than wait to the end after binding.
I make it from scraps,
and with this one I am taking a motif from my scraps
and raw edge appliquing them
to another fairly large leftover piece.
I use my machine lettering to add a message,
the date and my name.
Honestly, it is a huge relief to have it done
and out of the way.
If you want to learn more about quilt labels,
that is how to make one,
what it needs to say and how to attach them,
check out this video.
Next, I check out the size of my quilt.
Am I happy with the width and the height
or does it need a border?
And to be honest, I want this quilt a little bit taller
but I really don't want to make any extra blocks.
I cannot believe how much mental energy this decision took.
I must have thought about it for over a week
before I could move forward.
But finally I decided on just a simple, easy border.
So I'm adding eight inches to the top
and I pull the fabric from my leftovers to make it happen.
Next, I decide what I'm doing for binding
and I audition various colours and sizes from my leftovers.
Until I decided upon this one
then I cut my strips and make my binding.
Sometimes I use a totally different fabric from my stash
but it's at this point that I make that choice.
And only after I've completed these three steps
do I consider the next step.
Now it's rare that I don't need
some augmentation of my backing fabric
and I look to my scrap pile to make it happen.
I first look for leftover blocks or partially made ones
or strips and pieces that can easily be made into blocks.
Now I covered this step thoroughly in my video,
how to make an after quilt,
and if you'd like to see how I went about making one
for my 100 days, 100 blocks quilt,
Since I no longer need any more of this fabric
for any part of this quilt,
I am free to deal with everything that remains.
First, I fold my yardage.
I check that I have both selvages
and I normally only keep pieces larger than 12 inches.
I clean up any jagged edges or pieces that I've cut out
and then I fold them so that they all stack nicely.
Any fat quarters that are unused
or I might make from some bigger scraps go back too.
But honestly, if I have used the fabric in this quilt
I am done with it,
I want to move on and use something different
in the next quilt.
So I really try to avoid re-stashing anything.
from this smaller pile,
I now divide it into prints and solids.
In printed fabric, I collect 10" squares,
5" strips and squares,
and 2 1/2" strips and squares.
So depending on the size of the scrap
and my mood, that's what I cut.
I don't sort by colour or value
as I try to keep it simple.
At a later date, but not today,
I will subdivide these strips
into smaller pieces to make bonus blocks.
I do have various blocks that I like to choose from
and I explained everything in my video on Bonus Blocks.
Now I do make a lot of baby quilts
that I donate to a local hospital
so I'm always looking to see
if I have enough leftovers to make a 36 by 36 inch quilt.
Which is 36, 6 inch blocks
or nine, 12 inch blocks,
or 18, six by 12 inch blocks.
And I strategically cut my fabric if I can make one.
Now I often find irregular pieces and these can stop me dead
because of the questions that they pose.
What do I do with them?
Do I cut them into strips and have all this wastage?
What are the maximum pieces I can cut from these?
Should I fussy cut this beautiful motif?
The Quilting Marine has a saying,
"it's only fabric".
So I just give myself a shake and get on with it.
Irregular shapes can be great for paper piecing,
and currently I am saving pieces
to make this free paper-pieced block by Quiet Play.
I have made templates for the required pieces
so I can quickly see if I have enough fabric.
I also cut hexagons from the irregular shapes
for my 3/4" English paper piecing hexagon project.
Viewers often ask me what I'm going to do with them all,
but honestly, I just don't know yet,
I just keep making them and adding them to the jar.
For strips that are narrower than 2 1/2"
I toss them in this tray.
I use them to make scrappy braids and scrappy strip blocks
but I don't bother trimming them
or removing the threads until I use them.
And the pieces that are shorter than 4",
I add them to my crumb basket.
These I sew on to adding machine tape,
to make my crumb strips.
This is a very popular idea
and I've explained everything in this video here.
I have over a hundred strips now
and that's enough to finish that project,
and when I get back from Holland it's next on the list.
Now I process my solids differently, I don't know why,
other than that's how my brain works.
If I can, I cut 2 1/2" jelly roll strips
so that I can pair them with my printed jelly roll strips
to make my fast and easy jelly roll block #4
or my jelly roll block #5.
All the remaining pieces I sort by colour
and I place them here in the bottom of this drawer
and organise them by the 6 major colours,
and another stack for white and black.
And I use them as I need them
and sometimes I take them out
and play with some improv exercises.
Now I do have a lower limit on size for my scraps
and I pass on anything under one inch.
So now my quilt top has been quilted
and as I trim and square up my quilt,
I get a whole new pile of scraps.
Actually, I like to have
the selvage-to-selvage pieces of fabric.
I will trim them to 2 1/2"
and pre-make binding strips from them.
I store them in this bucket
and I can't tell you how many times
having the binding ready to go
has made my life easier.
Anything narrower, I add to my strip tray
or my crumb basket.
Batting scraps are a whole other level of scrap busting.
I try not to cut my batting too much larger than my top.
I also try to keep it aligned with my top left corner,
leaving just a few inches on the side and the top
but there's often a big piece at the bottom,
so I'll trim this off
and keep these larger pieces in a stack.
And I will splice them together as necessary
to make one large piece to use on another quilt.
This is often called Franken-batting,
which I show you how to make in this video here.
If the piece is smaller,
I will cut 20 inch pieces for pillows,
12 inch pieces for quilt-as-you-go blocks
and 4 x 6 inch for postcards.
So it depends on the size of the batting
for what I actually cut.
All these little extra pieces no matter how small
I cut into little bits that I use for stuffing,
and this might look like a lot
but an 18 inch pillow takes over two bags.
Now I have not mentioned it before
but cutting up scraps is messy work.
There are tonnes of threads and fluff
and batting just takes it to another level,
making a fuzzy disaster zone of your cutting mat.
So remember to keep your foam square nearby
and clean up as you go.
Now, it's very rare that one doesn't have leftover binding.
Binding chicken is not a game you want to lose.
So these are the last scraps produced in this project.
If they are two and a half inch strips,
that's just a no brainer,
I cut them into pieces and add them to my bonus block pile.
Occasionally I do the math wrong
and I have a full strip left over.
If I do, I add them to my jelly roll strip pile
to use in my 12 inch blocks.
And I'm done.
Now this process has actually happened over several days.
I find it's best to use my timer and process them in batches
because there is a lot of decision making
and your brain gets tired.
When I find that I'm staring at a piece of fabric
and I'm stumped, unsure whether to cut
a 2 1/2" square or a hexagon,
I put down my rotary cutter and do something else.
I hope you've seen some ideas
that you can take into your sewing room
and adapt for how you like to quilt.
If you'd like to see the bonus block video,
I'll put a link to that playlist here.
If you want to see other ways to use up your scraps,
I'll link to that playlist as well.
Take care, and I'll see you next time.