Round Up: Scrap Management

This is one of those questions for which there is truly NO wrong answer: How do you manage your scraps?

Perhaps you burn them at dawn while the neighbors sleep, or maybe you use them in place of Styrofoam packing peanuts, or (gasp!) maybe you actually cut and sort them in specific sizes to make your own pre-cut bundles. Whatever your strategy, there’s no denying that scrap management is highly personal.

Megan Dougherty's Scrap Closet of Doom

Megan Dougherty: “I divide all of my scraps by size, so I can determine whether they can be cut into squares, strips or left as larger pieces for smaller projects. (Snicker.) Once they’re cut, I sort them again by color (Snort!) and place them into clear bins…okay, no, sorry. I can’t keep it up with a straight face. I have fabric bins stacked precariously in my sewing room closet. The scraps go in there, but now they’re so full, I just open the closet door a crack, toss in the scraps and run.”

Melissa Thompson Maher: “I reuse big plastic lettuce bins from Sam’s Club and Costco. These see-through bins stack well and do a fine job of containing scraps. Or they would, if only I’d keep up with the organizing. When I’m finished with a fabric, I gather the scraplets back on top of the largest piece, and fold it into a square that tucks nicely in the plastic bin. I do try to sort by color. When I sort, that is.”

Scott Hansen: “This is rich. Dealing with scraps? Does it count that I finally started putting pieces smaller than 1” wide into cat beds for stuffing? Years ago, I started folding and sorting by color. I have six empty drawers from two IKEA units that I bought two years ago that I can’t get to because I have fabric piled up in front. When I told Linda about scrap management, she just shook her head and walked away. Now I feel like I should go fold some fabric. That’ll probably last about 10 minutes.”

Jake Finch: “I keep a large Ziploc bag handy when I work on a quilt. All useable scraps get tossed into the bag. When the quilt is finished (insert laugh track here) I stash the bag with others somewhere out of sight. But I do this because I remember my fabrics from when I used them, and I sometimes remake a project.”

Then we asked some quilty bloggers and q-biz owners what the scrap policy was like on their turf:

Cara Wilson of CaraQuilts: “Scraps are just pieces of yardage so there is no reason that we can’t sew them back together to create our own patchwork yardage to use with applique or for making bags, or even to use with a solid for piecework. This works really well with scraps from one project, fabric line or color family. I cut them right away into the biggest size possible, like 2 1/2″, 3″ and 5″. If I leave them until later, the piles are such a mess I can’t find a thing and quickly get frustrated, which is the exact opposite of the whole point of doing a hobby!

Melissa P. of 100BillionStars: “Mod Podge does wonders with scraps! I’ve done a lot of crafty projects with my scraps–particularly Sis Boom–as they work so well for the dramatic effect. I seem to get more hits on the blogs and more pins on Pinterest from those projects. Even the tiny scraps can come to life with imagination. Besides my scrappy Spiderweb quilt and some scrappy pillow covers, I’ve keep scraps handy for small handmade gifts for the holidays.  Just hoping to find the time.”

We tossed the idea out on Facebook and got flooded with answers. The most popular strategy is to cut and sort for future use.

Melissa Thompson Maher's Lettuce Bins

Marie Strait: “I cut my small scraps into the sizes I normally use–2″ squares, 2 1/2″ squares, 3 and 3 3/8″ squares and then bigger. The advantage of cutting when I generate the scraps is they are ready to sew when I have a few minutes at my machine.”

Laura Weston: “I cut mine into useable sized pieces and then store them in bins organized by size and shape.”

Andi McElvain Stanfield: “I put the triangles left over from binding strips in a basket next to my machine and sew half-square triangles in between other blocks. There is another basket with half-square triangles ready to become pinwheels.”

Christine Blackketter-Pearson: “Anything too small gets tossed into a bag to use for stuffing.”

Stitchers with cutting machines, like the Accuquilt Go! Cutter, manage scraps for the machines for patchwork and appliqué shapes.

Pamela Joy Spencer Dransfeldt: “I put the useable pieces over by my Go Baby!, and then cut out shapes and store them in a shoe box for future use.”

Carol Capps: “I have a cabinet with folding crates and bins. Every crate is labeled, 5″ squares, 4″ squares, 3″ squares, 2-1/2 ” strips, 2″ strips, etc. Miscellaneous strips go into bins to be used for string quilts. Having the Accuquilt Go! makes it easy.”

What we store our scraps in is just as variable as the sizes we cut them into.

Dori LeBlanc: “Cut them into 2 1/2″ strips and store them on a multiple pants or tie hanger, the kind with several horizontal bars. They can be sorted by color/pattern that way. And they can be hung in a closet between clothes and nobody sees them. Not that I’ve done that. Just saying!”

Kit Lang: “I bought these teeny, tiny dressers from IKEA–their profile is no wider than a bookcase–but they look great and keep me fully organized. Each drawer is for a different color. You can see them here (but please ignore the crazy thread storage…those are going on a peg board).

Then there’s the bag brigade…

Cathy Jones Ledbetter: “I have been collecting the larger scraps in Ziplocs. And I’ve been saving selvages for one of those cool selvage projects.”

Flaun Cline: “I slip them in my scrap bin until it reaches critical mass, then bribe my daughter to sort them by color into large zip bags.”

Some of us point our fabric leftovers toward other crafts or uses.

Peta Minerof-Bartos: “Binding sized scraps go into a glass jar. Thinner strips I give to my daughter to make rag rugs. Too small to sew becomes stuffing.”

Marie Coady: “I’m a children’s librarian. I sort my crumbs by color into Ziplocs and bring them in for crafts. For Valentine’s Day, we glue pink, white and red fabric onto construction paper hearts. They’re gorgeous. Drop your unusable scraps at your local elementary school or preschool, or library!”

And then some of us just give in to the moment

Cornelia Heitz Gauger: “Uh…I doubt you’ll be able to use this, but I stuff them in a bin and then sit on the lid in hopes that it will close.”

McLisa Tangerine Starfish-Sipes: “I give them away on my blog. Voila! Instant excuse to bring in more yummies.”

Thanks for all the great suggestions, everybody, (P.S. Cornelia, we understand. McLisa, we like your style!)

Scrap Splat Challenge Update

Have you joined the horde of stitchers wanting to participate in the Scrap Splat Challenge that Generation Q is hosting with Thomas Knauer of thomasknauersews.com? It’s not too late!

Go here to read more about this limited-space challenge that will have you scrambling to use 30 different scraps in an original creation. But you won’t be scrambling for the scraps themselves because Thomas will send them to you! (Just read the original blog post. It tells you pretty much everything.)

If you’re up to the challenge, then at the end of the original blog post, leave a comment telling us you want in. On Sept. 28, we’ll pick 30 stitchers at random to be in the challenge corps.

Oh, and there will be prizes. Aren’t there, always?