Thursday, October 28, 2010

MANAGING FABRIC SCRAPS

Recently, three seperate friends (who have given up sewing ) each gave me all of their scraps. Outrageously exciting!! I went through and folded the bigger sections and placed them on the shelves. The smaller sections were placed in two totes to go through later. I began a SunBonnet Sue project and as you can see the fabrics became quickly disorganized and became a jumbled disaster.
I decided that since I do love scrap quilting and do not like to get rid of any piece of fabric that could eventually be used......LOL I had to come up with a system and get this organized. I take each section to the ironing board and spritz it with some water and get all the wrinkles out first of all.

Take it over to the cutting board. Easy ......... ok, but now do I just trim it up and fold it or what? There are so many options, I got frustrated and sat down to think about what choices would be right, per say, for me. I decided to cut three different sizes at the same time.


I chose to cut 5 inch squares....the size used in charm packs.


Two and half inch strips, which I use quite often. The pile of strips was becoming messed up and I stopped to figure out what could be done to keep them neat and organized. I do not have a lot of space, actually there is no space left on my shelves, so where could they be stored without getting crumpled and wrinkled. I was looking at the closet when it came to me. Use safety pins and hang them on a hanger. They are easily kept out of "harms" way, easily looked through and very easy to access. It will not take much more and it will be filled and placed in the closet and I will start another hanger. I will most likely go to 3 inch strips also.




This tote will continue to hold the small bits of scraps that have a future place in a quilt project.





Like pieces for applique..........







or wonderful pieces for crazy quilt blocks.
I am far from being a great organized quilter. But, I do like it when it is all organized. I hope that I will continue to come up with ideas that will make that effort easier for me and hope that by sharing, maybe it is something you can use also. Have a great day playing in your fabrics!!!






3 comments:

  1. Great invention...using those hangers for your strips! I'm as bad as you when it comes to not throwing any scraps out.

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  2. Wow, what a great organizer you are. It must have taken you awhile, but will be so worth it when you're working on projects.

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  3. Love how you have organized your stips. Thats a great idea!

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