What do you do with your incomplete fat quarters?
 

I'm reorganizing my fat quarters using the sizzix fat quarter wrap die. I have quite a few that I've cut into, some are probably half gone. I'm wondering if I should do something different with these since they don't wrap as well on the die cuts. What do you do with your fat quarters that aren't complete?

I thought about using Lori Holt's strip system...

If they are still big enough I leave them whole and fold and put in with my FQ's. If they are on the smaller side I cut all my scraps to either 2 1/2" strips or 5" squares. Everything else is donated to a friend for her and her mom to enjoy.

Thanks. I don't know if I want to commit to small squares but I think I might go with 5" strips. Then I can quickly cut into squares or smaller strips or if I need, say, a 5 x 10 piece, I can use it for that too. I am keeping anything that is about half of a fat quarter on the boards so far.

I buy Sterilite or Rubbermaid containers (sweater size?) and put small pieces of similar colors together - they lay flat in the box and I just dig through them as needed or wanted.

I use them up in pot holders or little change purses for the grand daughters.

I had containers before, but I don't have room for them anymore. I think I'm going to cut them into some kind of precut sizes and stack them neatly in drawers.

I do want to use them in projects eventually but right now I'm just trying to find out the best way to store them.

I roll each one like a diploma and tie it with a narrow strip of contrasting fabric . Then I set it upright in a pretty basket with others. The variety makes me happy and it's easy to see what I have. When the basket gets full, I make something with some of them.

I do applique and always am looking for something for my projects. I have clear storage containers for different colors, red, blue, green, etc. Then, when I'm working on a project, I pull what I want and use it. I have a pretty big collection.

I don't cut into smaller strips or squares because I don't know what I'll want to use or what size it should be. And, I have a quilting friend that uses small scraps for dog bed fillers so if I decide I don't like some fabric and will never use it, I give it to her.

I have a bookshelf that I store all these small pieces and it works well for me. They are one yard or less and I store them completely by color. I personally don't want to cut them up into a certain size because then if I want them in another size, I'm done for.

Committing to a cut size brings up the question "what do I do with a piece smaller than ...?" I leave them just the way they are. Anything smaller than half of a fat quarter goes into a plastic drawer, organized by color. When I need to make a table topper or other small quilted piece, or border an embroidered piece, I go to the drawer first. If the drawer starts getting full I look for something to make with the pieces.

I thought that maybe cutting them down would be a bad idea but honestly, I have a lot of fabric. So if I didn't have a big enough piece in my FQ scraps I probably would have in another set of FQs or some yardage. For now I will probably just fold them as well as I can and file them in drawers by color but eventually I may cut them down.

You could check out Bonnie Hunter's scrap system on her website (http://quiltville.blogspot.com/). I am working on a Tumbler quilt cut out of my scraps using her leaders and enders challenge from her blog(http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2015/...-tumblers.html).

cut into squares or strips by hand. It is still done now and then

I would not put a cut piece less than a FQ back with the FQ's . I did this once and was so annoyed as the smaller piece was exactly the colour I needed but it needed a full size FQ for the bag and it was too small. I had to go and buy more fabric.

I wrap all fabric that is at least a yard on comic book boards and put them in my bookshelves. For anything that is at least a half yard, but less than a yard, I cut the comic book board in half, wrap the fabric around it and store them in the plastic drawer units. Fat quarters are folded and stored in another clear plastic drawer. Anything that is less than a fat quarter I put in colored fabric bins in my 9-cubby shelf unit. All are sorted by their predominant color. Even the fabric bins are the colors of the scraps that are in them. Hope this helps. 😊

Donna

Small pieces are very handy when doing applique.

I use Joan Ford's method from her book, Cut the Scraps, by cutting the largest pre-cut possible and going on from there to smaller sizes.

I'm glad you're enjoying that Sizzix die ... I just reorganized all my FQs using that also... it's awesome!

Edited to Add: Here's Joan's website: http://hummingbird-highway.com/

No affiliation, I just like her methods! :)

Actually it turns out that the die doesn't fit nicely into my drawer so I'm just using rectangles of cardboard now. I thought I could do the dies sort of staggered where they overlap a little but it was a pain to get them in and out.

I usually cut leftovers into various width strips. When I have a container full then I make a string quilt. Just finishing one up now. And emptied the whole container so I can put a different project in it.

I have some plastic tubs designated for pieces that are less than fat quarters. I only have 2, light and dark. I don't want to commit to cutting into them in case I want to use bigger pieces.

Leslie