My mom saved every bit of any left over fabric. ...and now I do the same. I she did roll some remnants , but others were very neatly folded with the bits of scraps folded in side. An each remnant was carefully logged in her memory as to what could be made from the remnant.
I can also remember removing zippers and buttons from worn out clothing. On summer days (school being out) she would get out the large button container , and we would match up buttons and string them together on needle and thread. Rarely did we ever buy buttons.

My mother barely knew how to sew on a button. I remember hemming a skirt for my mother when I was maybe 6 years old. My aunts sewed clothing, but I don't remember any scraps.

During World War II, my dad was so thrilled to be able to purchase a Kenmore sewing machine for my mom. She was to make our clothes. Not a good idea. My mom did not want to sew. When in the 5th grade, I had 1 dress and 1 skirt and blouse. I decided that if I was to have clothes, I'd have to learn to sew. By the time I was in high school, I was the best dressed girl in my school. My dad would give me all the money I wanted to buy fabric. I spent a fortune. He would have saved a great deal if he had just let me buy my clothes. After Mom retired, she learned to quilt by hand and really enjoyed quilting. I suspect that she used all of her scraps in other quilts. I never saw any scraps around the house.

Not my mother, me! I learned to tie up the leftovers in Seventh Grade Home Ec with Mrs. Miller. She told us that they were our diplomas for getting the cutting done on our projects.
Even though you made me feel old its still a fun memory!
Colleen

My mom did that too. I had forgotten about it until seeing your post. I have no idea what she did with them afterward as she didn't quilt. Thanks for the memories.

Now I feel like a real oddball. My mom sewed all my life, made many of my clothes as well as my brothers and I don't ever remember her rolling up left over fabric. Now I'm really curious about what she did with it.

My Mom most always rolled her leftover fabric up and used a thin strip from the scraps to tie it into what she called a bundle. In later years she sometimes used a rubber band from the newspaper to secure the bundle. She would neatly placed the largest piece of fabric with "the good side" down on her sewing cabinet and then placed all the smaller scraps on it and rolled them up inside. Sometimes she would let me help her but I had to be really careful when rolling the fabric up so I would ended up with a neat bundle. LOL And, truth be told, I do my scraps the same way. LOL

My mother kept the fabric in a box, in case she would need to use it to patch what ever it was that she made. They had a room that collected every little bit of odds and ends - it was a junk room. The people that built the house made the room off the dining room a glass enclosed room, and not one window opened. So it was hotter than hades in the summer and colder than anything in the winter. When my folks were finally able to afford to remodel the room the turned the room into a powder room. Everything in the room was thrown out. But knowing my mother, she gave all the old patterns and left over fabric to the next door neighbor. She sewed for the missionaries with her church.

My Mom & Grandma were both seamstresses in a shop...and the work came to them tied up in bundles....so when they sewed at home I just thought they did the same thing as work......didn't think that other Moms & Grams did the same thing......what memories this brings back of me going to the shop where Gram & Mom worked even after I was married with my kids Gram wasn't there but Mom was......they are both sewing up in heaven now....I guess making angels wings.....

This is how my mother and when I started to sew saved the scraps from our project. Never used a pin to hold the rolled bundle shut as it might rust and leave a mark. We only used the pattern layout given in the pattern as a suggestion. We laid the pattern out to conserve the most fabric for our bundle. I have used fabric that I made garment from to make other things but most of it is not suitable for quilting. I have a couple of big boxes of bundles left over from my mother and my garment sewing days. I'll let whoever shuts my house down after I'm gone decide what to do with them. They will probably stare is disbelief that something like this was done and kept. Now they've seen it all!