When you are cutting your fabric, you trim,
and then you trim, and then you trim,
and you make a lot of scraps.
Today, we were heading back to MT. Scrapmore because
I had made several videos on what to do with the big pieces.
But today's video is all about the small pieces,
the irregular shaped ones, the less than two inch ones,
which we often call crumbs.
So here are seven ways to use up your crumbs.
So stick with me and I'll show you how to do it.
(pleasant music)
Hi there, 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 hit that subscribe button.
And I'd like to thank today's sponsor, SkillShare.
For all of us, scraps have different meanings.
I know people who consider
anything less than a fat quarter, a scrap,
and on the other extreme, I have people horrified
that I throw out anything less than one inch.
Everyone has a zone that they're comfortable with.
The important point is you should have a purpose
for your scraps and not just put them in bags
and hide them in the closet.
So I have done a previous video on scrap management,
where you decide where and how to use up your scraps.
Scrap sampler blocks, scrap strip blocks,
or in the back in and after quilt.
But I have yet to deal with the crumbs,
which are those irregular and small pieces
that you have left over after you've done
all the other stuff.
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It is a good habit to have to start your sewing
with a leader in place.
They don't need to be square
and they don't need to be the same size
and you can use them over and over and over again.
If a thread nest happens, it happens on the leader
and not on your good fabric.
It also gives your piece in something to butt up against,
to support your fabric as it initially hits
those feed dogs for straighter sewing.
They're also good to use as markers between section.
Like if I'm doing columns of pairs,
I will use a leader to mark
in between the different columns.
It's important to have a place for all your crumbs.
So you don't have to go rummaging through larger pieces
to judge if it's really a leader material,
just keep them all in one bucket
so you can just grab and go.
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You can also sew chains of crumbs together to make strips.
You start by sewing like pairs together.
Then you sew those together and then so those together.
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These strips can be used in blocks, such as
pickup sticks or coin blocks,
but they also can be incorporated
in more sampler-like blocks,
like log cabins or churn dashes.
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You can sew several crumb chains together
to make crumb squares and crumb rectangles.
You can also simply grow your block from all your crumbs,
letting it grow organically from all your different shapes.
You can then use this as a block or use it as fabric
to cut another shape from, and don't worry
about any wastage.
It can be used as the foundation for your next block.
Many people sew their crumbs to paper
when they're doing this to help secure the pieces.
I personally love using adding machine tape.
I had a box of abandoned rows at the office,
and I was trying to figure out what I could do with them.
I, at some point made a decision to make my strips
18 1/2 inches long and I usually work
two to four strips at once to postpone trips to the iron.
So I use short fabric strips and crumb chains
that I made in the previous step.
Sometimes I throw in old HSTs.
Basically anything goes that can fit on the strip.
And then when the strip is complete,
I trim it with a quarter inch seam allowance all around.
And I honestly work on them just whenever
I don't feel like working on anything else.
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You can also use crumbs in applique.
Take any fusible webbing like Steam-A-Seam.
I use my offcuts and fuse my crumbs to them.
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You can add these crumbs to your blocks,
use them an applique on top of your quilting,
or have fun and make postcards out of them.
I keep a stack of card stock,
batting scraps and ugly fabric on hand
so I can always make postcards.
Layer your batting on top of your ugly fabric
with your postcard background.
They should be just slightly larger than your card stock.
Then place your crumbs and your desired design.
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And with the second paper removed, fuse with a hot iron.
Alternatively, you can just use a glue stick
to attach the pieces.
Quilt as desired.
Then glue the card to the back of the piece.
Then trim to the same size as your card stock.
To bind your postcard, use a tight zigzag.
My width is four millimetres wide
with a stitch length of 0.75.
Trim any threads.
Then I send them as I would any postcard.
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We all have items in our house that are less than colourful,
or perhaps you just want to disguise what they are
and make them your own.
Now I know you don't need an excuse
to buy a Pringles can, but I use these two
at my office as thread catchers.
Yes, I always use two.
I use one for my left hand and I use one for my right hand.
I use two parts craft glue to one part water,
and often I will just be Mod Podging
while on a Zoom call.
It's fast and easy to make.
It will take a little time to dry.
And I have a couple of foam board projects
that are less than beautiful that I like to do soon.
Stay tuned.
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Now I don't personally do them,
but I have so many quilters that write in
and tell me that they do.
They keep a pillowcase beside their sewing table
and into it goes all their crumbs and all their cutoffs.
Then they make dog beds out to them for their local shelter.
LoveBug Studios has a great blog post on it
and I'll leave a link in the notes below.
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There's no defined line between scrap quilting
and improv quilting.
It all kind of just blurs together at some point.
Crumb chains, crumb blocks, crumb applique
can all be incorporated into an improv project.
The biggest bonus for me, when I do improv,
it lets the left side of my brain rest.
For those of you that have long to do lists and deadlines,
or just living a life of precision
with little margin of error,
improv can be yoga for the brain.
You can let your analytical left brain relax
and let your right side do all the stretching and bending.
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Just because they're crumbs, doesn't mean
they can be neglected.
It's still very important that you use
a good ironing technique so that your pieces lie flat
and therefore your work will lie flat.
Now I know that there are those of you out there
that think I'm crazy for using all these small pieces.
Don't feel any pressure to use up crumbs.
If they give you any stress, just put them in a paper bag
and donate them because there's tonnes of people
that would love to have them.
If you want more information on what to do with your scraps,
I'm going to leave a link in the notes below
to my scrap management playlist.
And if you haven't seen my new interview series,
Karen's Quilt Circle, I'm going to put
a link in the notes down below there too.
This week, I'm talking with Geeky Bobbin
about how to get published as a pattern writer.
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All my stash buster patterns are available for download
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So take care and I'll see you next time.