Volume of your stash when you cut squares, strips, etc?
 

What happens to the volume of your stash when you cut squares, strips, triangles, etc., to be used in scrap or planned quilts? Do you need less room to store it? How much less? And in what containers do you store it? How does that work for you?

Does it save you a lot of time when getting ready to start a new quilt?

I get donations of fabric to use to make quilts for homeless families; after 19 years of doing this, people know just who will make good use of their donations. As appreciative as I am, it causes storage problems. I have virtually no room left in this small house. I'm thinking of taking a good bit of that fabric and cutting it into strips and squares, probably mostly in 2.5 strips and squares, 4.5 strips and squares, and 5.0 strips and squares. These are good sizes for Nickel quilts and Jelly Rolls patterns. Long strips of 6.5 width are also good for fast "strippee" quilts. Of course, many other patterns can be made from these. I might add 12.5 or 10.5 hand cut squares to the mix to use as QAYG backings for string quilts (the strings are ready now).

I recently bought an Accuquilt Go. It is fast and wonderful to use so far. I'm thinking of turning a lot of fabric into pre-cut pieces in the near future. In your experience, would that be easier to store and require less room? Would you think those Super Satchel boxes would make good storage? Do you think the sizes I've chosen so far are good sizes, or do you know of something better for fast quilts? Any tips or suggestions?

Thanks,
Cricket

Sounds like a good plan to me.:D But sometimes they multiply on their own, like rabbits.

If your stash consists of unevenly shaped scraps, then you might be able to reduce the volume by cutting it into the sizes you use. The reduction would be because some of the fabric would be (presumably) thrown out, being too small to make into one of the desired sizes. However, cutting yardage into strips and squares does not reduce the stash and may actually increase the storage required, especially if you want to keep it organized (by size, color, type of fabric, etc.) The one big advantage to cutting it up is that you have pieces all ready to sew. If you typically use the same cuts over and over, that can be a time savings later on, but you may also find that you want to make a particular pattern that calls for a different size strip or piece that you didn't cut.

I keep all my yardage in pieces that are as big as possible. However, I have found it useful to cut scraps in advance into whatever size pieces I need for the next scrap quilt. I store scraps in plastic shoe boxes, labeled with the type of fabric (e.g. dark florals, light florals, kid fabric, etc.) and (if it's been cut) the type of cut (e.g. 1.5" dark strips, 3.5" light squares, etc.) I have found it's helpful to keep the lights and darks separate since most patterns rely on the contrast.

have you been to Bonnie Hunter's site, "Quiltville"? she has a scrap management system. Also, lots of free patterns..

http://quiltville.com/scrapusersystem.shtml

Pick a couple of patterns you would do with the sizes you cut to make sure you would use them. works wonderfully for odd shaped pieces and anything 1/2 yard or fat quarter and smaller. I only cut 2 1/2 inch strips, 5 inch charms and tumblers and strings and store crumbs.

I cut fat quarters and smaller pieces into 5" charms. I have about 15 pounds of scrappy charms now, way too much. I also cut 5" strips for a friend and share the charms too. It does save me time and space, leftover thin strips I pass on to a friend who's going to make a string quilt. Almost everything I do uses 5" charms and I'm always glad to have them ready to go.

Check out Joan Ford's books "Cut the Scraps" she has good ideas for cutting your scraps into, I think, 2" 31/2" and 5" and lots of patterns to use those scraps

This has nothing to do with scraps, but I've been hearing about plastic shoe boxes on The Quilting Board for a long time and I would like to know where you buy plastic shoe boxes. I've never seen them but they sound like something I could use.

You can get plastic shoe boxes at Dollar General, the Dollar stores, Walmart, JoAnn's and tons of places.