dian

Hi, I used to sort my scraps by color and then saw a program on scrappy quilting and how to sort and was told to sort by cutting strips in 1", 2" 2 1/2" and 3 1/2" along with squares in these sizes. Then put all the same size strips into one box. Wow, when I did that and saw all the colors together, I got such inspiration and could really see what colors looked great together, even colors I would never had put together before. So, now when I finish a project, I cut the scraps from that project immediately and put them in their appropriate boxes. No more mess and less boxes to take away from my space for large material!

Greendragon6889

mine are all stuffed into bags too. I just pull them out and start looking for what I want. Sort ? what's sort?

Kimcatlou

I have mine sorted by color, but what is the Chip, Charm, Chunk, Strip, String, Stray method? I am just curious.

My husband and I will probably move to an assisted living facility soon due to his health problems. Moving my fabric will be a real chore, but I refuse to give it up!!!!!

butterflywing

if it's too small to get a 2.5 strip from or a 4. square from, i let someone else sort it at their house. i try to make something small immediately out of scraps, like a pouch or a tote or shoe bags so that i never have to sort. i give these to family members. sort is a four letter word. :hunf:

pinsandneedles

I help with making baby quilts for my church to give out to charitable organizations. Fabric is donated, so we aren't always able to plan any particular pattern. Fabric is cut into 6" or 8" squares, and put into piles. I sort through the squares and separate according to color and intensity, and lay out each one on large poster boards so each color or pattern overlaps the other, leaving an inch to be able to overview the whole layout. Very easy to pick out squares that way. Poster boards can be carefully layed on top of each other and slid under a dresser, or other piece of furniture to store if needed.

Marcia

That's what I was thinking!!!! Mine are all tossed (shoved?) in a huge bag. My daughters and granddaughters love to dig through them periodically, so what's the point of sorting?

Nancy in Louisiana

Anything less than fat quarter goes into huge see-thru plastic bin for random access. Who's got time to sort? Everytime I try, I get off on some random project and end up pulling them all out again. Sometimes I sort using the "dump" method -- dump them all on the floor, spread them out, and dig for what I'm looking for. I've tried to sort by color but ended up with crossovers (blue/green vs green/blue), so my color divisions are pretty loose.

RedGarnet222

I first sort by catagory home dec, fashion, quilting. Then it is by weight and color. Those are broke down by size and then color. All that being said, I store all the fabric together that are for a certain quilt. Either stacked on a shelf, or in a clear bag. This saves me searching and wondering where is that dang fabric!
The tiny scraps are in a bin all together right now. I am not going to sort them until I use them in a crazy quilt.

mrspete

All of these answers and comments are so interesting and I find my self chuckling, because it hit home. I find my tiny pieces go by color in ziplocks and stand it in a drawer. I went on www.freecycle.com and registered in my zipcode with a request for all your left overs and scraps. That was when I first started. I got tons of things that I think were ancient but wonderful. I took pieces of them with me to work and my 92 year old I was caring for, helped me make my first quilt. She is gone now but I have this as a keepsake. it is a bit crude but I am so proud of it and it didn't cost me a dime, but the thread. Color is my best FIRST step in sorting. But Wally World bags and totes are all around my house now. It's comforting! Living alone has it's assets. I use scraps for everything, just about.

Dani

I sort by color basically right now. But if you are really making scrap quilts from your scraps, they should be sorted by "light/medium/dark only. Stratetical placing of value pieces is what makes your scrappy quilts awesome. My plan is to do exactly that.