Fabric squares
 

Does anyone cut squares of fabric if you don't have a particular project in mind?

The reason I ask is I've just been gifted with two very large bags full of fabric squares - 3" and what looks like 1-1/2". There are three more bags being gifted to other people, all from the same source. I've never seen anyone do this. There are too many squares/colors/patterns for this to be one project and I can't even imagine cutting this many squares in advance for a couple of projects.

Are they scraps? Or multiples of the same fabric? I could see it with scraps with the intention of someday using them. The 3" size would make for good 2 1/2 inch HSTs, so someone may have had a scrappy HST in mind!

But I only cut as I use for a project. Could be the person was expecting to make a lot of the same quilt pattern for multiple people? Or they just liked cutting fabric more than sewing it back together LOL!

Yes, I do cut my scraps into a variety of different sized squares. Eventually they will become scrappy quilts. I find that doing a bit at a time, is much less daunting than being faced with than overflowing scrap basket.

There are a lot of free patterns that you can use them for. I am making Heart blocks and the Arkansas Road. Yes the 3" would be used for HST's.

Some people go ahead and cut up scraps in sizes they most often use that way they are ready to go. Makes a quicker scrappy quilt if the cutting is already done.

Yep! Probably someone "processed" a bunch of scraps.

Or they make a LOT of quilts with those sizes and have a habit of over-cutting. But seems more likely they're processed scraps.

I love stacks of scrappy squares, make me itch to spend a day at my machine!

Many yrs ago I bought very cheaply shoe boxes filled with scrap squares........2 1/2", 3 1/2"', 4 1/2" ----- 2 boxes each size of prints,and various solids.....still have some...but used most in scrappy jewel box,nine patch on point in a strip style, bow ties......even now incorporating the last of the solids in GFG and the prints in cathedral windows.....the person I purchased from was just one who did nine patch quilts and just decided she was through, but had precut all this fabric!

I have cut some of my stash into apple core and tumbler ( GO dies) for future projects...and just bought at 1/2 price the GO DWR which I think I want to do in partial scraps as Ebony Love did on her tute...we will see.......

Lots of multiples of the same fabric in the bags I got, although I'm not seeing the entire "collection." I didn't sort the smaller squares by color/print (yet - although I'm sure my OCD will overcome me at some point). I did see more of the same prints in the smaller squares that I'd seen in the 3" squares.

I'm hoping these were in some order before the person who did them decided to get rid of her stash, but at that point they were just thrown willy-nilly into bags.

HSTs would be good - I'm thinking the magic 8 method would be easiest with many of these.

Thanks for the input and ideas!

I am not one to cut scraps until I know what quilt pattern I will use them in, then cut for that---believing leaving scraps in the largest size gives me more options for using them. However, if your pile are already cut into smaller pieces/squares, I think I would find a scrappy quilt pattern first, then start cutting/trimming them to the size needed in that pattern. Obviously I am one to select my pattern/design first, then mess with the fabrics to fit. Good luck and have fun with your new stash!

YES! A woman at our quilt retreat this week is making the most fabulous quilt! She has been cutting 10" squares, 5" squares, 2 1/2" and 2" squares. She's taking the 2 1/2" inch and stitching together in rows of 7 with a white at each end. I wish I had a picture.....Somehow, it's sewn to look like it's on the diagonal. She'll clip the points on the whites and add a white 2 1/2" sashing. What she's done so far is fabulous! She sets the blocks by her machine (all 2 1/2" ones) in "light and dark" piles.......:)