K-Roll

Hi everyone, I need some advice on what my fabric strategy should be. I've been reading posts about managing scraps and whatnot, and you all will know what I should do.

Don't laugh but I went to a fabric store to buy scraps (actually, a few 1/4 yards of different colors) because I'm new at this --- when I went to make a fabric postcard luckily I had some 1000-year old chintz and crepe pieces. I have some new scraps from the slipcover I'm making & I'm not done yet...but I will have some after I finish. Which leads me to my question about strategy.

I've read to keep scraps by color, and to save/use the bitty parts and leftover threads for stuffing, which I'm doing. I figured since I'm starting out so fresh, it's a good chance to stay ahead and get the best practices from you all.

Should I cut stuff into squares and strips as I go? How big should the piece be to not get cut up...
should I make some into HSTs ahead of time even if I have no plans right then to use them?
For storage, I'm thinking plastic storage bins, eh?

Thanks in advance - my question may seem simpleminded but I know myself, if I don't get a handle on it all in the beginning I'll be down a river of no return.

katier825

You will likely get many different opinions on this subject. I think alot depends on what you like to use/tend to use, or a project you might want to save up your scraps for. Personally, I use a lot of strips and small squares, so I do cut some leftovers to sizes I might have a future project in mind for. I have clear plastic bins sorted by color, except for batiks, I keep those separate. I use mostly batiks, so that bin is larger.

You can get a lot of ideas/tips from Bonnie Hunter...www.quiltville.com

Jeanne S

Everyone is different on this, there is no right or wrong way.
personally, I leave all my fabric in the largest sizes they are in, because I do many modern quilts that can require larger pieces of fabric. If I cut up all my scraps into 2 1/2" strips or squares, what would I do when I wanted to use that fabric in a design that called for 8" squares??
Regarding storing your stash, I first separate mine between solids and prints. Then I sort them by color in each of those 2 groups.
If you think you will make most of your quilts from smaller, standard size strips and squares, go to Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville website and read up on her scrappy cutting/storage method. Lots of folks swear by her plan.
I definitely would not pre-sew HST unless you have a specific pattern in mind.

PaperPrincess

I second the Bonnie Hunter reference. here's a link to her Scrap User's System:
http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2005/...rs-system.html
After you have been quilting a while, you may find that you are drawn to certain types of quilt styles (large patches, small patches, applique etc.). This will help with deciding if you want to pre cut your scraps and how small a scrap you want to deal with.

Prism99

I've been quilting a long time. My advice is to buy only for current projects. If you are making a scrappy quilt, then you might need to purchase lots of quarter-yard pieces. If you are making a designed quilt, buy more yardage of each major fabric than you calculate is actually needed; there's nothing worse than getting to the end of a quilt after working on it for a year or two, only to find you need one more yard of something. It is those leftovers that become your scrappy stash.

Quilters have many individual tastes, financial circumstances, storage space, wants, needs and desires. My experience has been that buying fabric can overtake making quilts. I find my large stash cumbersome now, and have spent many hours working on reducing it down to fabrics I might actually want to someday use in a quilt. My tastes have changed over the years so that many of the fabrics I bought 10 or 20 years ago don't appeal to me so much anymore. I would rather spend more money on new fabrics specific to a quilt I want to make than paw through my totes of fabric yet again trying to find things that will go together.

Whether or not you cut up extra fabric before storing it is a matter of personal preference. Leaving it uncut gives you maximum flexibility later on. Cutting it into standard size pieces makes it easy to sit down for 10 minutes at a time, or when you are low on energy, and simply sew for awhile. There are advantages and disadvantages to both, just as there are advantages and disadvantages to ruler-folding stash, sorting and storing by color, etc.

What I have found works best for me is having lots of stacking, clear clamping totes. (It works best to buy a ton at the same time, so they all fit together. Tote styles go out of fashion with unending regularity, which means you end up buying clear clamping totes that don't stack well with the ones you already have.) I don't have hard-and-fast rules about sorting. I separate my batiks into lights, mediums and darks. Specialty fabrics get their own totes -- fabric types such as florals, jungle prints, children's prints, etc. Muslins and solids get their own totes (labelled so I know which muslin is which). Calicos get jumbled together.

If you use totes, be careful not to get them too big. My biggest totes are reserved for packaged battings because they are light in weight but big in volume. Fabrics can make a tote heavy fast, so I have many more medium and small sized totes than large ones. Clear totes are a must for me, so I can see what is in a tote from any angle (including from above). I will only buy clamping totes now, because I found the non-clamping tops tend to warp over time. I quit using permanent labels on the outsides of the totes. Have found it much more flexible to write descriptions on a 3x5 index card and tape it, facing outward, to the *inside* of the tote. This keeps the label from falling off or discoloring, plus I can change the purpose of the tote easily as needed. My favorite stacking, clamping tote has been discontinued. I love those totes because they come in a variety of sizes, all designed to stack firmly on each other. However, here is a link to the type of tote I would probably buy now in different sizes:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sterilite-...-of-6/44785810

lots2do

I agree with Prism. The friends that got me hooked on quilting where all stashers so I became one too. On the one hand, now that I'm retired, I have more time to sew and use what I already own. On the other hand, I think I'd enjoy having less fabrics at times. The fabric industry keeps offering up tempting choices that are only available for a relatively short time.
I use the same type of totes as Prism with an index card slipped in as well.

Onebyone

I put all my scraps in a big tall laundry hamper. When it's full I donate it to any one that wants it, then start over. I rarely use out of it even with the good intentions I have of doing so. If you don't use your scraps before they multiply you probably won't.

ManiacQuilter2

We are mostly women and you will find out that we all have different methods of dealing with scraps. I buy 1/4 cuts because that is what I will need and use. I keep my scraps that are wider than 1" in a drawer. The remaining them go into a trash can that I made my doggie beds from. I don't precut because I don't know what size I will need until I find a pattern and start pulling from my stash.

Kitsie

My scraps are waiting for organizing, but I don't think I ever will do it!
So many times I'm looking through my tubs for a certain color. Suddenly a scrap of a totally different color pops out and screams "Use me!!"
Great surprises! Often turns "nice" into "WOW".

maminstl

For now, I would just save them as is until you figure out what kind of a quilter you are. After about 3 years, I've realized that cutting up scraps into specific sizes is just not for me - I never use them. You might find that you do things differently - but all those pieces have been sitting around my house for a long enough time that I just give them away.