I keep a lot of scraps. It just feels wrong to throw this lovely (and not cheap) stuff away. However, my scrap bins overfloweth. Recently, I’ve started throwing away more, simply because it feels like I have nowhere to put it. Worst of all, with the exception of Triangle Madness, I seldom seem to actually USE my scraps.
What it comes down to is that I’m relatively impatient when working on a sewing project. I don’t want to dig through the mess of my scrap bins to find something that might work, only to find that the piece I have isn’t quite big enough, anyways. And I’m too addicted to efficiency – I love to stack up three fat quarters and cut them all at once, I love to chain piece. Scraps don’t lend themselves to such things.
I had read about people who organize their scraps by size, rather than color. Or who cut all of their scraps into uniform sizes. For a long time, that sounded too restricting to me. What if I wanted a long strip instead of a square? Oh, the “what-ifs” can paralyze you. But the truth is that the scraps simply aren’t getting used in their current state. So I decided to undertake a rather ridiculous project.
I am chopping up all of my scraps.
I have my own list of sizes that I want. I cut the biggest pieces I can get from any given piece of fabric, and then work my way down. The very biggest pieces get cut into 10×10″ squares. After that is 5×5″, both of those because at least then I don’t have to cut down any leftover pieces of charm packs or layer cakes. I then move to 3.5″ squares, which is a little random. But when I sew hexagons, I most often use 1.5″ hexie templates, which work well with 3.5″ squares, so there you have it. After that are 2.5″ squares, at least in part because those are good for remaining pieces of binding or jelly rolls. Really, I think 2.5″ squares are always useful. A last-minute addition to the list is that I will cut a 2″ strip if there’s a long-but-narrow piece that seems like too much to throw away. But mostly it’s all squares, since I’m more of a patchwork person than a log-cabin lover, so these seem more useful to me than long strips.
But that’s as small as I go. Anything smaller, and I just… throw it away. I know! Gasp! Alright, I’ve made a couple of exceptions, mainly for Heather Ross fabrics. I’ve kept a few itty-bitty pieces of those. I’m not made of stone, people.
The yellow-and-orange bin was the first one I grabbed, and certainly isn’t the most full of my scrap bins. I set up my cutting mat and box of fabric on the kitchen table or in front of the TV. Working off and on while watching the DNC, I’d say this moderately-full box took me four or five days of cutting. It’s really tedious, as it’s nearly all done one little piece at a time. But I’m hoping the end payoff will be that it’s much easier to make scrappy quilts without having to dig around. And, ultimately, it felt almost liberating. The what-ifs still threaten to creep in, but I really think this is going to be a better way for me. And the end result is so nice and neat, I really do feel like I could just pick a color, grab a stack, and start sewing. Ahhh.
Only five more boxes to go.
Anyone else organize their scraps this way? What are, or would be, your go-to sizes to cut? Have I inspired you to take the plunge and bust out the rotary cutter?
I started doing the same thing. But I just did 2.5″ squares. I think it’s a way for those of us that are more “type A” to deal with the chaos….
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I need to do this! Looks very efficient….
I cut leftovers into strips. I got with 5″, 2.5″ and 1.5″. Sometimes I’ll cut them down into squares, but mostly I leave them in the strips. But I’ve only been doing it with fabric I’ve used since I decided to cut it up. I still need to tackle my pile of scraps from before. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you look at it), I don’t sew super duper often, so I don’t have tons of scraps.
I’ve always wanted to organize my scraps this way! I just haven’t taken the plunge to do it. I always figured that once you start it would be easy to cut your scraps as you are cutting for your project. I like the sizes you chose although I would probably do 6 1/2 instead of 5 inches. (I tend to do blocks in multiples of threes). It’s great to see you do it! I’m inspired to tackle them now.
Wow! I have “thought” about doing this and it just has never happened! I think it’s a great idea! I have a very hard time using scraps too, this will help a lot!!
Bonnie Hunter is the queen when it comes to cutting and organizing scraps. She outlines her Scrapsaver’s System on her website: http://www.quiltville.com
You should check it out!
Oh, so pretty. And neat. My scraps havent gotten that out of control yet. I can’t wait until they do.
Looks great!! Those “what if” questions are what has kept me from doing this to my scraps. But really, it’s not like I don’t have enough fat quarters, 1/2 yard, etc. to cover any size/color I would need
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You go girl!
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I’ve been stuffing all of my scraps into a bag – they definitely need to be organized! I agree with picking sizes to cut them down to too. I’m not using my scraps as it is, cutting them up can only be a good thing.
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This was part of my slash the stash goals for this year. I cut mine to 5″, 3″, 2 1/2″ and 2″. I have yet to actually use any of them but they sure look pretty;-)
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Wow are you organized. I have just started getting organized and while I have made a huge dent, I could do better! You have definitely inspired me to get more organized and start quilting! Right now, I don’t have a ton of scraps, probably because I haven’t been doing a lot of sewing and because I have been throwing them away probably more than I should. You have also inspired me to make hexagons and I also have yo-yo’s I can make and I plan to use my scraps for this.
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I just stumbled upon your blog and thought I would share what I do. I took the plunge a couple of years ago and organized my scraps in a similar way. I do WOF strips in 11/2 inch, 2 inch, 2.5 inch 3 inch and on up to 6.5 inch strips. I have put each size into a clear plastic shoe box and also cut squares in the same sizes and put them each in their own shoe box. Each box stacks neatly on the top shelf of the closet in my sewing room so that I can clearly see the size strip or square in each box. When I make a quilt I take any scrap smaller than a quarter yard and cut/put it in its approporate box. The is really cool when I decide to make a scrap quilt as I can pull squares and strips out and half the cutting is already done. Like you mentioned I can have my own charms/layer cakes ready when the time is needed. There are several quilty friends of mine who don’t like scraps and I get their scraps too. This really helps clean the clutter than can accumulate in my sewing room…….Now I must get busy and make some quilts!
I love this idea and (hopefully) I will be able to give it a try. I say hopefully because I also find it hard to throw away ANY fabric. But, since it’s all a balance and sooner or later scraps can overwhelm (I’m preaching to myself here) I’m going to resolve to organize them and throw away the useless bits! Thanks for the motivation.
I do mine the same way. my boxes are just sorted by size and not color – my stash not that big yet. I also have strip boxes (want to make a strip quilt one day). I try to do some cutting after a project before I start the next one, or sometimes just in between.
http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2005/06/scrap-users-system.html
Bonnie Hunter has a great system that I now follow.