Reorganizing Scraps!!
 

I had my stuff pretty well organized I thought. Then my daughter and her two sons moved in with us and my sewing room became my grandson's bedroom, and I moved my sewing stuff to our bedroom. Not much quilting in the last six months. Now I have moved with my daughter to a new home close to my ex and other daughter (I've moved to help her out for a while with her young children). I have a great sewing room!! I had all my bins down there ready to store. The grandkids got into them and mixed up all my scraps!!

So now I'm looking for a very practical way to organize scraps. How do you organize your scraps?

Fabrics on shelves, but I also have quite a bit in plastic bins. I use the Bonnie Hunter method for scraps and right now those are also on shelves, but I will be using those clear plastic bins that fit under beds soon (about 6 inches high and long and flat), and those scraps will be tucked in there in the different sizes. Those I'll keep under my table I sew on, so its close by to use to piece quilt tops. Congratulations on your move to a place where you have your own sewing room again!

Do your grandkids know the different colors? Have them separate into piles of same colors for you. If you have separate boxes for the colors they can then put them in the boxes for you. They messed them up, let them clean them up.

I follow the Bonnie Hunter system. I keep lights/darks in 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 strips in plastic drawers. I also have a bricks box, small misc scrap box, I have 3.5 and a 4.5 box. Then my FQ and lengths of fabric are on boards on shelves. Still need some tweaking but I'm pretty happy with this system.

I save the zipper bags that you get with sheets, bedspreads, etc. They are clear so you can see what's inside.

I went to organize everything - a store here and picked up a dozen cheap clear shoe box size plastic boxes. They're just scraps so I'm not worried about storing them in plastic (I am in and out of the boxes on a regular basis). I just did mine again and they look great on the bakers rack in my sewing room. One shelf is just those boxes of color coded scraps. I have red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, black, white, Black & Whites, Pink and Kids Novelty. So far so good! Happy quilting!

I follow the scrap organization explained in Sunday Morning Quilts. I sort scraps (anything less than a fq) by color. Each gets its own clear shoebox bin. Then I also have a bin for strips and one for snipets. I'm also saving smaller strips and salvages for knitting a rug...eventually.

I sort and store by color and type.. batiks with batiks.. traditional , and metalics. The bins are color "groupings" red, orange, yellow , brown in one bin. Green , blue , purple in another. One is just for tone on tone or muslin scraps. If it helps print off a color wheel and cut the quarter or third ( what ever works for the amount of scraps and size of bins) , and tape it to the lid or front .. so you can guide your scrap saving into the proper box.

Would you please come to my house?? I don't have my yardage that well organized, much less my scraps.:o I'll feed you, give you good coffee, and all the dog-lick facials you can stand!

ps: you can bring your dog, too!

The only way I organize scraps is into quilts!:D No time to organize them any other way!
peace

Just start sewing them and see what happens, it will take less time then organizing! If you come across something you want to use for a 'project' set it aside.

I too am a bonnie hunter scrap user system person. I used to pay my godson a quarter per pile of scraps I gave him- big, medium and little scraps.

I am working on it...I was the other way around...I had a sewing room and had to "vacate" when my daughter and grand daughter moved in...now it is all in my bedroom. Thankfully, I have 2 BIG closets in my room so I converted one to my fabric closet as I wasn't using it anyway...but I have a small sresser in there and shelf unit on top, but still just not enough storage space...I have to work on it, but am limited as my husband won't allow me to do anything to it like build shelves in it.

But I'dlike to ask....I can organize the scraps, but how do you figure out what you are going to use and make with them? I know you can just lay the squares out by color or print etc...but still...so many little scraps ....how do you all start the "picking" for a scrap quilt?

on Bonnie Hunters site she swears that when she is doing a scrappy,scrappy 16 patch for instance, she puts the like sizes in a bin and picks randomly. then I would -make my blocks that way and add a consistent color sashing. maybe black. hope that helps you take the plunge and use those scraps.

Mine are all in a plastic bin until I find time to make HST with them. Someday will make a HST quilt with them.
Have made lots of 3 1/2 in ones so far.
Have made one quilt using a pattern from Sewing with Nancy that uses all sizes of strips. It is called Scrap Happy Patchwork.

I have to agree - I just don't have time to sort but I just made a lovely log cabin quilt from my large LLBean bag of scraps. I used a color wheel and put appropriate colors together without too much attention and it came out wonderfully!!!

I store mine in bins also. Strips and squares. It works for me.

I store mine in three baskets, sorted by lights, mediums and darks, not by actual color. When my baskets get full, I make a crazy quilt by pulling random pieces from the baskets. Works great and keeps my scraps from overtaking my sewing room!

Instead of of organizing..make a scrappy quilt.

I've spent two days putting scraps through my Studio cutter to make strips. I probably have another 3 or 4 days to go!! But, my scrap bags are noticeably more contained to small pieces and I feel less overwhelmed by all the scrap bags. I'm storing all the cut strips in IKEA drawers.