Better late than never, right? My husband and I were out late last night at a movie screening - one of the perks of his job is that we get to see some movies long before they come out, while they are still in production - fun! But it meant that I was way too tired by the time we got home to write up my blogpost for I May Have A Scrap Problem this week! So instead, I dreamed about it all night... and this is what I came up with...
When is a scrap not a scrap?
We all have them - those scraps that we just can't bear to cut up and put into the general population, for whatever reason. For some, it's Heather Ross or Tula Pink fabric, for others it may be 30's reproduction prints or the like - for me, it's Kate Spain!
Kate's colors always play well between her collections, so I keep all the scraps I have together in one place to use in a future project. In fact, I'm pleased to say that after I took this picture, I was looking for more examples and found another bag of KS scraps, so my stash is looking really good for a KS scrap quilt right now!
I also keep my batik scraps together. I love the way batiks work with each other, but since I don't usually have a lot of batiks in my stash, I collect the little I do have in one place so I can play with them without having to dig them out of bins full of other types of fabrics.
Holiday themed fabrics (other than Christmas) are also stored together, no matter what size the piece is. I also have only a few of these, so having them in a container together makes it very easy to find what I need, rather than trying to search them out among my yardage (it's hard to see that something is holiday when all you can see is 1/4" x 5" of the print!) Pure Christmas fabric and Christmas-themed pre-cuts are grouped together too, but winter-themed fabric is stored with the yardage or cut up into the tubs if scrap-sized.
Do you have a similar philosophy about some types of fabric? Inquiring minds want to know...
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On the scrap-busting front, I've traced letters onto some leftover 5" squares for this project...
...and hopefully sometime today I'll get to work on those. But I also want to start working on a scrappy quilt - I feel rather unsettled without a quilt in the works! So I'm going to poke around in the scrap boxes today and see what strikes my fancy. Wish me luck!!!
Hugs!
Sarah
Please give me the address for the Canada program, H2H.
ReplyDeleteFabric smaller then a 15" square is scrap to me. I keep mine sorted similar to you. Have a RW&B bin. Also have a shoe box with brights and I Spy strips longer then 10" ready to go as wonky rail fence quilts. When it gets full, I make a quilt to donate. I also use large zip bags to sort strips for a planned scrappy quilt, currently collecting pinks and browns. So much fun!
ReplyDeleteI do much the same thing. 😎
ReplyDeleteCute letters!
I keep some specialty prints sererate and the only specific line seperated (for now) is my Marcus (with other CW scraps). I don't get many juvenile or themed items donated - if I do, I pass them on to someone who likes to use them.
ReplyDeleteYour system makes so much sense Sarah! I keep all the Kaffe Scraps together and all the Collections for a Cause prints too, only because they are going into a designated sampler quilt... but those are pretty much my only scraps that are organized.
ReplyDeleteI keep all of my holiday fabric together, from scrap to yardage and if I had a FQ bundle I keep all of them together including scraps, otherwise scraps go into the pile.
ReplyDeleteI've done something similar to you, all the batiks are kept in a separate bin, Christmas fabrics have their own bin, flannels of all sizes in a huge bin and another comforter size plastic zip bag holds baby/juvenile flannel fabrics. Solids are mostly kept separate from the rest of the fabrics, although that pile has overflowed out of its designated bin. Storage space is at a premium in our little house so things are not as well organized as I'd like but the stash is small enough that it's not too difficult to find what I'm looking for.
ReplyDeleteFor me, anything less than a FQ is a scrap. I store batiks and Christmas scraps by themselves, too. Hand dyes also fit into the "separate them out from the rest" category. The rest get thrown in be size or color.
ReplyDeleteAll of my sewing theme fabrics are stored together (not many scraps, usually yardage). That way, I can pull all sewing theme fabrics for a project easily. My Christmas fabrics take up 2 full tubs. Civil War repro's are stored together, as are 30's.
ReplyDeleteAll my fabric is arranged by color. If it has lots of different colors then it goes into the Multi colored boxes. I'm binding today. Wish me luck.
ReplyDeleteHugs
I store batiks by themselves. I also separate solids, childrens fabrics and the rest of the scraps I keep in bins by size, shape, and hopefully color. I could always use more plastic bins which I keep smaller rather than deep.
ReplyDeleteOnce fabrics reach scrap status in my sewing room, they all live together.
ReplyDeleteThe alphabet letters are cute, can't wait to see yours!
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting topic. How small a scrap would it be before you throw it away? I have scraps as small as 1 inch square and I do not know what to do with them.
ReplyDelete