Suggestions for Ugly Fabric?
 

I’ll spare you the gory details but I am the unfortunate recipient of many, many 4x4” blocks of the ugliest fabric ever. ….little tiny busy-busy-busy-busy flower blocks in all kinds of colors. I can’t stand looking at them but I can’t bring myself to throw them out either. Any suggestions on what I can make and quickly unload on an unsuspecting person?

Remember... beauty is in the eye of the beholder! Why not mix your busy-busy-busy squares with some nice quiet light solids and make some lap quilts for donations. I bet the recipients will love them and appreciate you for giving some cheer with all the flowers.

Can you post some pictures?

If I made pin cushions out of all the squares I have, there’d be enough for both Canada and the U.S. I'll look into the disappearing 9 patch and hope it lives true to it’s name.

If you have nothing invested in the fabric why keep it? Feel guilty about having that second piece of pie, not about tossing unwanted fabric. It would be in the trash or donation box as soon as I got it and no one would ever know LOL

Here's some pix. I also have a 1" stack of 8x8 fabric squares that are (almost) just as ugly. Keep the suggestions coming, please!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]613020[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]613021[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]613022[/ATTACH]

I'm betting if you posted them available for teh cost of postage, they'd get snapped up. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Even if they aren't beautiful, I'd cut them in to 1.5" squares and they'd be fine. Trust me, somebody who can't spend much would love them.

These would be perfect for a scrap quilt with either 9-patch or 12-patch design. Sashings could be placed between blocks and/or blocks on point. I would consider these as jackpot winnings . . . there are so many possibilities available. Have fun with them!

Free table at the Guild. Sewing time is too short to work with fabric you believe to be ugly. I think they are fine but I know how hard it is to work on something that is not your taste or style. The ugliest quilt I have ever made (to me) is loved by the person who chose it in my stack of quilts.

How about blocks something like this? I have a lot of white fabric I bought when just learning so it’s about the same poor quality as the squares. And the white would de-ugly some of the prints. And I could get rid of 8 squares in one block!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]613025[/ATTACH]

I agree with peaceandjoy. Post them free for actual postage in the Offers section. Many of those prints are cute to me (not that I want them, I’m trying to purge).

eye of the beholder indeed ;) I love them, nay, even say lust for them!
I do agree with others, set them free, donate, compost. Sharyn

I really don't think they are ugly at all. Those are nice fabrics. I think a 9 patch scrap quilt would be nice. You could add some solid fabrics to tone the flowery fabrics down a little. I was thinking about a string quilt with each color in one block but not sure they are big enough.

Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder! I do a lot of applique, and have several of those fabrics. I often work with checks, dots, stripes and small flowers. I look at some fabric in the store and think "yuk"!! I'm sure someone thinks the same about my choices! Sew it up and/or donate it. I'm sure any recipient would love what you make!

I like the fabric too. Don’t make a pattern you wouldn’t normally consider with fabric you hate. Think how much time you’ll spend doing it. Time is precious. Unless there is some reason you must use this fabric give it away to someone who likes it. There are lots of charities who could whip these squares up into great quilts.

They may be ugly to you but I love them!

These "ugly" fabrics would make the most darling quilt for a little girl. The fabrics many of us remember as children in grandma's quilts. If you set them with a medium gray background fabric, they would become "right in style".

Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder! I actually think they are really cute and pretty! :D Maybe just sew the squares together as a simple baby quilt?

Oh my! I think these are really pretty. Would be nice in a Goodnight Irene quilt.

They're in the trash. I hope I don't get fined by my municipality The quality of the fabric is worse than what appeared as I was sorting it. There can't be 5 threads per inch. I wouldn't give this to anyone. Case closed and movin' on!

A real shame, I liked everyone of them. Quality may improve after washing and drying, like a lot of items do.

Me, too.

Offer them for the cost of postage.

Pretty fabrics. I suspect that you are a bit like me - too much of a good thing can overwhelm me. Then I have no clue what to do.

I suggest making a scrappy checkerboard quilt with the 4" blocks and white fabric. To make it go faster, Cut 4" x WOF white strips, then pin 4" squares to the white strip, sew 4" blocks to the white fabric, then cut them apart.

Happy piecing!

Ok. Your choice has been made. It was fun to think about the possibilities, though.

Wonderful and exciting possibilities. And since I always buy more fabric than I need, I've accumulated quite the stash so I'll be thinking about all these suggestions. I honestly don't think this fabric would have made it through one laundering cycle on gentle. I'm bookmarking this post! Thank you everyone!

I imagined much worse than what the pictures showed ha ha ha

I was given some ugly fabric one and was in a similar situation. I ended up making 2 very simple quilt pattern quilts - just blocks. then I practiced my FMQ on it. It was good practice because I was not in a panic fit about how my quilting looked

then I donated them to a church who donated them to the homeless.

Oh my goodness ... the trash! *sniff* *sniff*

Sorry, but I am like many of the others and was right in love with them.
Especially how you showed the colour groupings.
Though I was envisioning mixing them for a nice old fashioned sort of a quilt.

Good for you though. You made your decision and have moved on ......

Libits- good for you! Some things just aren't worth the hassle.
I just donated 6 large bags of fabric I knew I was never going to use and freed up a lot of space in my sewing room.
I couldn't be happier :)

Trash? Oh, no! When I saw them, I thought "vintage". But maybe that's not your "cup of tea". Yes, they would have made a darling quilt for a little person. Perhaps you don't want to use your valuable quilting time on donation quilts but there are numerous places to donate small quilts--nursing homes, preemie facilities, DCFS, camps for disabled children, Linus. Some church groups would have welcomed your donation to send quilts to missions. In fact, some organizations specifically ask for ugly quilts as they are less likely to be sold/stolen for drug money. I liked what I saw. To each his own!

Fabric
 

I will take them for the actual cost of sending them

Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder. I love this kind of fabric prints. There’s only a few in there I’m not crazy about. My favorite quilts are scrappy so they’re right up my alley. :-)

I wish I had a lot of those "ugly" fabrics. I think they are wonderful!!! What fun to play with them!
Lynda

I actually like them.....

I totally agree, beauty is in the eye....I totally love them.

I like them too; I've seen a 16 patch or 25 patch set on point. Just a thought. If you make something you may find you do like it. Many of them remind me of the 30's fabrics.

That solves the problem!

Interesting conversation on sour fabrics. I have a special box for "the uglies", there are always a few duds in a fat quarter bundle, maybe to round out the numbers, I don't know. Anyway, I like to use them to make trial blocks before starting in on the good fabrics. There are other things too, weird ideas I get in the middle of the night, etc. I call it my quilt lab time. Messing about with the uglies means no guilt; you can whack it up, sew whatever, find out that didn't work, and then chuck it out with a clear conscious. Or save the winners with notes about the construction method used, etc.

I'd make 9 patch blocks, set them on point with Black as the sashing. Or, just mix them all up and sew them into a quilt. If you want something a little different, then applique balloons or something as a center focus.

This is a pretty airy pattern that would go together really quickly with four inch squares. Of course, you would need a lot of background. [url]https://www.pinterest.com/pin/566679565586171033/[/url

I like this one in a scrappy version, with each different block a focus on a single color palette. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/566679565586171016/

Libits, I love all those block you call ugly