10 Tips for Managing Scraps
Make a Plan to Keep them Moving Out of Your Space!
If you make quilts, you have scraps. And, of course, the more quilts you make the more scraps you’ll have.
Managing scraps is an ongoing issue so you need a system. Even if you’ve cut scraps into sizes you commonly use you still need to actually use them – or otherwise keep them moving out of your sewing space (and not just into storage!).
Karen Brown from Just Get It Done Quilts has created an excellent video to help you keep those scraps moving. She refers to it as The Scrap Stream. Start by deciding how you want to use your scraps. That gives them a purpose and from there you can follow her insightful tips to create a simple system that you can stick with.
You’ll find Karen’s tips in the following video. By thinking them through and deciding what works for you, you can keep scraps under control as you go, rather than creating a big pile of scraps you’ll have to deal with later.
Click here to watch the video at YouTube if it doesn’t play on your device.
The comments Karen’s video generated are both interesting and helpful. We want to point out the comment posted by @jodiedwards2634, as it can be a challenge to stay motivated when dealing with the chaos of scrappy blocks (in her case, freeform blocks):
“… I just started sewing pieces together with no particular pattern or thought of color, value, print or solid. Now mind you, I am very OCD with “matchy matchy “, so this was difficult at first. The blocks grew, and as they reached big enough that I could cut them into 12” blocks, I did so. I was quite distressed with the “chaos” they appeared to be, but I persevered … then I saw a tutorial on shadow box blocks. I made shadows on each block with a dark charcoal fabric and made white sashing between each block and for the background. Oh my gosh, that made just enough organization that it was beautiful! … “
Scroll below the video here to read the full comment, which has a delightful twist, and many others from quilters with great ideas and results.
You’ll find Karen’s playlist of excellent videos about organizing and using scraps here.
