What do you do with your scraps?
 

I think I am a fabric hoarder. (no, I know that I am) I keep all my scraps. ;) Well, I ended up with 2 boxes of them so I cut what I could into 5" charms, then cut the smaller pieces into hex's and kept the strips that were at least an inch. Everything else has gone into a bag to make cat beds. The strips will be sewn together to make more fabric for a scrap quilt. With prices for fabric I hate to throw anything that can be usable somehow away. Am I the only one who does this? :o

Nope..I saveanything. Bigger than an inch and use the pieces for making crumb blocks. Anything smaller goes into dog beds. Fabric is too expensive to waste.

They all go in a tubby and when I need applique or just something small, I can usually find it in there. I make scrap quilts too. My DD loves the one I made her for Christmas. Fabric is too expensive to waste.

I have a hard time parting with any of my scraps. I was just sorting through them this morning. I have a tub of fabric leftover from projects that I have made that could be used again (maybe 6" or so or bigger) Then I have a tub and a box that I keep pieces smaller than that. These I figure could be used for something sometime...like maryb119 said many times you just need a little something. someday I may get the courage to make a scrappy quilt (I am afraid of all of the different colors and how they will work together that is why I hesitate)

Once my pieces get to be less than 1" I do pitch them...I don't think I have the patience to make a crumb quilt. But frances yuhas has a point... maybe I can think about pet beds. I don't have a dog but cats need beds too

I guess technically, what I do with my scraps is make the pile bigger.

I saw on this board that someone made a 'crumbs qult'
I would like to than that person for mentioning it because now I havve a half full box of CRUMBS!

I send all my scraps that are at least 4" long and/or 1-1/2" wide to my sister, who makes the most beautiful potholders. Then, I get potholders, which I give away as gifts (after picking out the ones I like best).

For everything else, I take a yard of muslin, sew it into a bag, then put it into a trash can (like a liner). Anything smaller than what I send to my sister, including trimmings, dog ears, threads, etc., goes into the bag. When it is filled up, I sew up the end, then make a pillowcase cover with snap closures. I give these to friends who have pets, since I don't have any.

jenny Doan has a video about pet beds and scraps. You make a pillow case and turn it inside out like when you put a bag into waste basket. you just add your scraps (small itty bitties) until you get the basket case full. Takes a while but then again you have a filled pet bed automatically then just close it up. And it's washable.

I just started making a Farmer's Wife Sample Quilt with my small scraps. I am sorting them into color groupings. The blocks for that quilt are 6-inches finished, so there are some tiny pieces needed.

There's a whole site devoted to scraps & how to use them with tons of free patterns:
http://www.quiltville.com/
and she has a system for organizing:
http://quiltville.com/scrapusersystem.shtml

I keep anything that can make a 2.5 strip and the rest get tossed.

no, not the only one. i've started bonnie hunter's leaders and enders project, although i think it will take me a long time to put a quilt together from the scraps.

and here's what #1piecemaker does with her scraps :)
http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...s-t258942.html

At one time I would throw them away but since discovering the joys of applique and hexies I keep them in a bin until i can do something with them

I don't throw anything away. I keep it all and make something. Cannot part with what I bought. Like Bonnie Hunter says " we paid for those scraps also".

Nope! In fact, I do exactly the same thing you do, except I cut different sizes and my pet beds are for the dogs!

I do pretty much same with batting too, I love using batting scraps in a scrap quilt...it's like getting a quilt for free! And the little bits help add "fluff" to the pet beds. :)

Nooo! Don't be afraid! They're just scraps, after all!

Try this: when you look into the scrap bin...do you like what you see? Take out anything that looks wrong (or just cut it up smaller!) Once it looks good in the bin...it'll look good in a quilt. Sew fearlessly and with abandon! Worst case scenario? You made a charity quilt out of some scraps that SOMEONE will think is amazing. Ta-daa!

(And I do mean amazing - I love scrappy quilts and you can just absolutely not do anything wrong with them, in my eyes. Chaos is really beautiful to some of us, your quilt WILL be amazing...just maybe not to you!)

Good tip! Will keep this in mind

I love making scrap quilts so I use every thing, down to the crumbs.

I save anything bigger than two inches to use in a scrap quilt. They are in tubs by color!

I have collected about twenty years of scraps. About one month ago I started to sort it all out with serious intention.

First sorted everything by color groups and then each color in to sizes from fat quarters and eighths, and squares in incremental sizes from 10" down to 2" squares. Any thing that was 15" long I considered a strip and have them sorted by widths from 2" up to 8". I plan to keep them sorted by the colors rather than size so if I need green scraps they will all be in one place.

I have a long haul till I'm finished and there will be lots of great scrap quilts in the future.
peace

I save scraps to 1 1/2" squares to make 9 patch squares. Smaller scraps and trimmings I give to a friend for cat beds.

I donate most of my scraps to a SR center in my state. The SR Center is in a rural, very poor area. I'm told that the scraps are well received.

My scraps are crammed in bags in one unholy mess. I also was given scraps/cut-offs from our kilt maker. Since its Hogmanay I decided I to have a good old rummage amongst the tartan and ended up making these traditional cushion covers and table topper. Had such fun and feeling rather pleased with myself for having such a productive evening. There is a third cushion cover but haven't got pics of it. [ATTACH=CONFIG]504189[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]504190[/ATTACH]

I save them. Started organizing by size once upon a time. Didn't stick with it.

I saw an old Kaye Wood show where she just stitched them to each other and kept rolling them up. When the roll was large enough, she could decide how long or wide she wanted the quilt/pillow or whatever and just cut strips from the roll for a very scrappy quilt. I think the scraps were all the same width but different lengths and colors from all her projects. Sorry I don't remember the exact details.

I cut my scraps into 5 and 6 inch blocks. Also 2 1/2 strips, sort into light and dark and make jelly roll quilt tops. The skinny strips are used for string blocks. All other bits are saved to make pet pillows.

I also have a scrap bag, which I just can't part with. Some have been perfect when I was making a Flying Geese scrap quilt, but many... They may come into use... Someday.

I make scrap quilts. I don't save all of them. I have lots of large yardage pieces and cut some to go with the scraps. With scrappy quilts you don't have to worry about trying to match with other colors. Some older pieces don't go with the new colors. So I will use most of the large yardage pieces for backings and cut up to make more scrappies.

Amanda Jean of http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com is just finishing up a series of 101 Scrap projects. She is a serious scrap hoarder. (In a good way.) She posted a ticker tape mini quilt today. I'm working on knitting a rug using salvages and skinny strips- from her book Sunday Morning Quilts.

If you haven't seen string blocks, look them up. I keep anything over 7/8". Too short? sew them end to end until you have a longer string. I string piece on doodle pads, easy to crack off after it's sewn. I really like the string blocks with a certain color in a certain place - adds continuity. Look up the tutorial on herringbone strings. Many free and great ideas out there. I'm really not cheap, I just love my fabric and want to see it as much as possible and in as many ways as possible.

I cut them up using the Creative Grids Scrap Crazy Ruler. I have 3 categories----kids--patriotic and everything else. Then I make quilts like this using them. Smaller stuff goes into pet beds. I also save 2 1/2 inch strips.

I am the same I have made many squares out of scraps normaly using a fussy cut piece for the centre

I will never tall how many scraps I have. But will tall you that I have 4 scraper quilt in the stack to be quilted and piles and piles more scraps. I love working with them it makes me fell like I can afford to quilt with the cost of fabric.

It may be washable, but is it dry-able? ? ? That's why I try to make mine stuffed not too tightly. Then dry in the dryer for a while, on the line in the sunshine for a few hours, and back into the dryer for another spin. You want to get it quite dry even in the center. The pieces need to fluff up.

Of course it's dryable. Everything I take out of my washer gets a good fluff before it goes into the dryer. I don't have a clothes line. I don't just pull things out of the washer and throw into the dryer. Less wrinkles and better drying. I don't stuff til it's packed tight. Same reason I don't throw a whole sheet set into the dryer. Bottom then top, vice versa.

I have a totally separate bin for satins, silks and similar fabric. Those go into Victorian Crazy Quilts.

Members of my quilting group save scraps in small buckets and exchange them at Christmas time -- this is the second or third year we have done this -- so far no one has made anything from them -- I would like to do a quilt with 2inch squares, a sort of bigger version of the postage stamp quilt, with mine -- the exchange gives us a greater variety of scraps -- maybe if I try to cut and sew a good size block a week, I can make some progress!! maybe....

PaperPrincess is right, Bonnie Hunter makes the most of scraps and her system for cutting is great!

I have bins for several sizes of squares and strips. I also host a Postage Stamp squares swap here on the board, and smallest pieces go into 3.5" crumb blocks. Trimmings are saved for pet beds. :)

You are not alone. I do the same. My guild friends now just expect all my work to be of the "scrappy" sort. I started out with two grocery bags of scraps about 4 years ago. My goal was to use them all up. Well,.... I now have more scraps than when I started and have made 20 + quilts most of which are made of scraps. I really believe that fairies enter my house in the deep of the night and using their special weaving tools and several pockets of fairy magic cause my scraps to multiply. I consider it a blessing because I can just keep making quilts upon quilts to give away. Smile and count your blessings. Organizing after the fairies leave is always a challenge. They are such messy little beings.