I just looked at my trash can and it is full of fabric. Some parts of the pieces may be 3" while some parts are less than an 1".. how small is too small to save as "crumbs"??

Kris

The answer is different for everyone. When I am done with a project and there are small pieces of fabric left, I take the time to cut them into 3" squares, 2.5" squares, 2" squares, and 1.5" strips. Nothing smaller for me. Whatever I can get out of the fabric. These squares and strips have their own containers. It's fun to make little table toppers with them, or put into scrappy quilts. It's fun to surprise people to, the ones I know are collecting 2" squares for various doll quilts and such.

I have one of those popcorn tins that I toss scraps in. Who know when I might find a use for them. Maybe a tear, stain, etc. to one of my quilts. I think the trash can gets 1/4" or smaller. I never used to save selvages, but I guess I will start that too.

Save Selvages? Why?

I also cut up the scraps when I finish a project into 3", 2 1/2" and 2" but I don't go smaller than 2".

some people make lots of 'stuff' with salvages. if you do not want to use them for anything put out the word and someone will take them off your hands...people make purses, totes, wall hangings and quilts from salvage strips. i throw away very very little. slivers cut off edges being squared is about it, everything else is put into baskets...strips (anything wider than 1/2") go into one basket...i use these for hooking rugs, wrapping clothesline, and string quilts; triangles, squares, little pieces of what ever into another basket (if it is big enough to fold it goes back on the fabric shelves) when my baskets are full i either get busy with them or i bag them up and pass them up; if i do not have a certain person requesting scraps at the moment they go to the local pre-school or elementary school art department. but i applique alot so i use some pretty small pieces and always have a basket to look through to find the perfect flower center, eye ball, tree branch what ever.
scraps can really build up quick (they multiply like rabbits) but the senior center, local guild, sewing groups and schools all appreciate your donations if you have no use for them yourself. it is such a shame to hear of people throwing away literally hundreds of dollars worth of fabric that could easily make a difference in someone's life.
my granddaughter's 2nd grade class used the elenor burns book "It's Elementary" for a whole math segment of their class and created many different projects using a garbage bag of scraps

Check out this blog and you'll see why some of us save selvages :)

http://selvageblog.blogspot.com/

I have a friend that saves every snip of fabric. Even the dog ears you trim off of half square triangles! I'm not sure what all she uses them for but I've seen vests made with a dissolvable base with threads and snips of fabric sewn all over it and then the base is washed away.

One of the winning quilts in one of the quilt shows here recently was made from little tiny pieces no bigger than a quarter of an inch appliqued to the background. It was a spectacular quilt.