- Hi there, I'm Karen Brown of Just Get it Done Quilts.
Do you have a spot in your home that looks like this?
I call it Mount Scrapmore.
And it's just a fact of life.
The more you sew, the more scraps you have.
Well, I have some strategies to help keep it in check,
so stick with me and I'll show you how to do it.
(cheerful music)
Well, the first step in managing your scraps
is coming to terms with them.
Scraps are just something you're going to have to deal with
if you're going to sew.
The basket is never going to be empty, but if you're diligent,
Mount Scrapmore can be kept under control,
so it doesn't overwhelm you in your sewing space.
So with every problem, there's three ways of attacking it:
prevention, management, and elimination.
So I've said it before and I'll say it again.
The first step in managing your scraps is don't overbuy.
If the pattern says buy three quarters of a yard,
you buy three quarters of a yard.
Don't be tempted to buy that extra quarter
because chances are when you're finished with a pattern,
you're finished with the fabric.
You've done it, you've seen it,
you don't want to touch it again.
And the less you have in your stash,
the easier it will be to deal with.
Your sewing room will thank you,
your brain will thank you, and your wallet will thank you.
You might be asking what an afterquilt is.
Well, way back when I first started quilting,
I was doing a Block of the Month Club
and by the time I finished putting together
all the sampler blocks, I was so sick of the fabric,
like, I mean, I was just terribly sick of the fabric
that I was determined that I was going to sew
every single piece of that fabric that I had into a backing
so that I didn't have any pieces to go into my stash.
I liked the process so much
that I now do it for every quilt,
and I call it an afterquilt.
And I challenge myself to use
as many scraps as possible on the back.
Sometimes it's improv exercise.
Sometimes it's just a strip down the middle.
Sometimes I'm incorporating the extra blocks.
By doing it this way, very little makes it
to my orphan block pile or my scrap bucket.
And if you're interested in a video
about how to make an afterquilt,
please put it in the comments below.
Now, similar to the afterquilt challenge,
you can also challenge yourself
to make a pillow or a pillowcase
with your scraps to match your quilt.
There is a woman at my guild that makes a pillowcase
for every quilt that she gives away,
and it's actually the wrapping or the quilt,
which I thought was very clever.
So here we are at management.
Now the best way to manage your scrap pile
is to start with the end in mind.
Have an endgame.
Know what blocks that you want to make
so that you can make your scraps conform to what you need.
I was recently at the Shipshewana Quilt Festival,
and this fabulous scrap quilt
by quilter Elizabeth Fitzgerald stood out for me.
There was over 7,000 pieces
that the quilters needed of the same size consistently.
So before you start cutting your scraps up,
know what size pieces you're going to need
for these blocks you're going to use.
That way, you have a quick and easy supply
so that you can sit down either every day
or once a week or once a month
and make one, two, or a dozen.
Don't sit down and expect to make a thousand
and your quilt will be done.
Scrap quilts are best grown organically from your stash
as your scraps become available,
and sometimes they take one, two, three,
five, even 10 years to make.
And don't restrict yourself just to one block.
Have two, three, four styles because you're not in the mood
for the same block every time.
Now I'm going to be making a video
on all sorts of different scrap blocks you can make.
So when I get that video made, I'm going to post it up here.
Standard cuts.
Okay, so you may want to cut your scraps
into some standard sizes.
You don't necessarily have a block ready for them
but if and when a block presents itself,
you want to be ready with some precut strips.
Some people cut them in strips,
some people cut them in blocks,
but whatever you do, keep it simple.
Do what's best for you.
You may have substantial space constraints,
so you want something very simple to store.
If you make a system that's too complicated,
either you'll waste too much time keeping it organised
or it will be too complicated
and you won't bother to keep it up.
So choose two to four sets of strip sizes
and just work with those.
Don't bother sorting them by colour,
but if you really want to sort them,
just choose something very simple
like high value, medium value, and low value
or warm colours and dark colours, and black and white.
Don't get more complicated than that.
I only do 2 1/2-inch strips and 5-inch strips.
Sometimes I cut them into blocks, sometimes I don't.
I find this size very versatile.
And I don't separate them by colour until I need them.
And I use these sizes a lot in I Spy quilts and baby quilt.
But again, look at how keen you are to make scrap blocks
and do what's best for you and your sewing room.
When I trim up a quilt, all that excess backing on the back,
those are nice, long strips.
They are often with the fabric or larger,
and I immediately cut them into 2 1/2-inch strips.
I join them up on my diagonal.
I roll them up and use them for binding on my next quilt.
I have them all ready to go.
Now everything that I don't cut into strips,
there's a lot of strip offcuts
when we're making quilts, I put in this bag.
I call it my improv bag.
These are strips that I use for strip blocks.
I use this, I use the irregular shapes
for English paper piecing projects or applique.
I just cut out these hexies
so I have a stack of them always ready to go.
Now this is my improv bucket.
After me showing you this,
you may think I need some intervention.
I love small pieces.
I'm just very miserly with my fabric
and I don't like to throw anything out.
And if it's small, I throw it in this bucket
and I do improv strips.
These are just freeform blocks
and I make them all this standard size.
I haven't got a quilt yet.
It takes a lot of tiny pieces to make a quilt,
but one day, I'll get there.
I also use these pieces in postcards.
These pieces that I use for postcards are never going to make
any kind of sizable dent in my scrap pile,
but they're fun and they're different from making a quilt
and you get to use all those fancy stitches
on your sewing machine.
Okay, so the last part
of dealing with your scraps is disposal.
Now there's no law that says
that you have to make scrap blocks.
There's many of you I know that scraps give you hives
or give you lots of anxiety.
So put 'em in a bag and get rid of them.
It's just that easy.
Now there's lots of people that collect scraps
and depending on design or on the size of your scraps,
they'll pay good money for them.
Just find yourself a destash site and go for it.
But even if you do not want to go
with the hassle of evaluating them and charging for them,
there's many people that will just take them off your hands
for the price of the postage,
or perhaps at your guild or somewhere,
there's a new quilter that doesn't have much of a stash,
they might like them.
So I try once a month to process all these scraps.
I put it on my calendar, I grab a cup of tea,
turn on my timer for 60 minutes, and I just go.
More often than not, I don't get to the bottom of the bucket
but as long as Mount Scrapmore isn't growing,
I'm good with that.
So now tell me what you do with your scraps
to keep them organised.
Please put them in the comments below.
This is the first in my series of dealing with scraps.
Next week, I'm going to have a video
on easy scrap sampler blocks.
So if you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up.
If you haven't yet subscribed,
please hit that Subscribe button
and hit that bell if you want to be notified
when I make a new video.
You can also find me on Instagram and Facebook,
@justgetitdonequilts.
So take care and I'll see you next time.