how small a piece of fabric do you keep? do you keep the little triangles that you cut off? do you keep little pieces for possible applique? or do you throw this stuff away? JoAnn

Yep! I keep everything! The little pieces come in handy for applique.

Sometimes I keep the scraps for stuffing a pillow.

Me keep everything {to much}. I have ever many a quilt that I call "Sewing roon floor". I have pieces as small as 1 1/2 x3/4 for paper pieceing Need to let some thing go. O NO O NO

I am not a scrap quilter, so I don't keep anything smaller than a half yard (and probably shouldn't keep those). I tend to buy a minimum of three yards of anything, and if I like the fabric a lot, I'll buy the whole bolt.

Anything smaller than an 1/2 yard goes into a big tub of scraps that I seldom look at.

I also have a lot of FQ's, but I've stopped buying them because I don't think I've ever used any. (And please, no pm's asking to me to sell/donate etc)

My rationale now is that they are BAIT!! A certain friend of mine here on the board, loves scrappy quilts. When she was here recently, I let her go through and take what she wanted. We shipped a 23 lb. box home to her. So the rest are BAIT to entice her to come back and play! LOL

I've taken the very small pieces and the 1/8 - 1/4" spagetti strips and put them in a box. I took my extra heavy duty chenille scissors and snipped them up even smaller (while watching tv). Just stuck the scissors in the box & snipped. I took the confetti & used it as mulch around my perennials. 100% cotton is biodegradeable. I know that the colors will fade in the sun, but it looks like it's doing a good job as mulch and looks so pretty.

There are a lot of answers to this question. It depends on the individual.
I like to keep pieces 2" square and 2.5" square to make miniature quilts and table toppers.

I never thought of the pillow idea- thanks!

I am not a scrap keeper and keep nothing smaller than a 5 inch charm. I keep nothing smaller than a 2 1/2 inch strip to use for scrappy binding.


However, I keep a plastic container (like those you get pretzels or
those orange yucky snack things) and toss in anything smaller. When it is full, it goes to my guild to be auctioned off. I am prolific and can full several a year. I toss in the ends I cut off binding after pressing them flat again.


I have a huge stash so must use that and not worry about crumbs.

I think it is an individual decision. What ever size your willing to work on is the right size to save and throw out the rest.I just started to save my triangles to make hst blocks. Just remember that the small pieces come in handy when you need just a small piece and you don't want to cut into the big piece of fabric.