Scrap Management

Every quilter has a stash pile (or bag, or bin, or many bags or bins). When you cut fabric for a quilt, no matter how hard you try, you are going to have leftovers. They can range in size and shape, and for many of us, they get thrown in a bag and forgotten about. Tackling the bag can seem overwhelming.

I recently saw some videos by Karen over at Just Get It Done Quilts regarding scraps. She talked about PROCESSING your scraps. Meaning, don’t just throw them in a bin, but instead cut them into useful shapes/sizes, so you can grab and go when you’re ready to use them. And she mentioned the key point of processing, which is knowing what you’re going to use all those scraps for before deciding what shapes/sizes to use.

It seems so obvious, but I had never thought about it. I was just sorting random shapes and sizes of fabric by color. It wasn’t helpful or useful. I started cutting into various square sizes, but again, not really useful. I didn’t know what to do with a bunch of random squares in multiple sizes.

I enjoyed Karen’s “chip” patterns, which use rectangles that are 2 1/2″ x 4 1/2″. OK, great, that’s one size/shape to process. I found in my stash a bunch of 2 1/2″ squares. Awesome, that’s two. Hmmm, they’re both 2 1/2″. My bindings are 2 1/2″. Are you seeing a theme? Plus, there are loads of patterns that exist for Jelly Rolls, which are 2 1/2″ strips.

So, now I process my scraps into:

• 2 1/2″ strips, the longest I can get out of the scrap
• 2 1/2″ x 6 1/2″ rectangles
• 2 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ rectangles
• 2 1/2″ squares

I can use the strips for Jelly Roll patterns and bindings. I can use the rectangles and squares in a ton of different ways to create blocks. Here are ten I came up with in just a few moments. (Two I saw on Karen’s site, the “+” and the “o”).

It makes it so much easier to process my scraps now! No more staring at the piece wondering what to do with it. No more struggling to decide what shape or size to cut it into. And much easier storage! I can just store them by the four sizes, all ready to go!

Bonus tip (again from Karen!): if you keep some of these by your sewing machine, you can piece these together as your “leaders” and “enders”, magically growing your pieced blocks while you work on other quilts!