What size scraps do you save?
#51
It has to be pretty small for me to give it up!! Usually, if I can get 2 quarter-inch seams and a quarter inch will show, I toss it in my scrap box. Anything big enough that it can be cut into a usable piece gets cut up and put in drawers by sizes. It literally hurts me to throw a piece of fabric away!
#52
I'm SOOOOO bad. If it's less than a 6" piece, I use it as kindling in my wood stove (100% cotton only). Fabric works better than twigs I found and leaves no ash. I was told this trick by a fellow quilter. I know, I know....what a waste of good fabric. I don't have the room to store all the snips and strings (even under my beds are full of fabric!) so I have to compromise somewhere. (BTW - the chimney sweep has says that burning cotton fabric will not hurt the wood stove nor the chimney - just make sure it is 100% cotton. Polyesters can melt while cotton burns).
Anita
Anita
#53
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 397
String quilts were my mother's favorite. She used worn out sheets for the base, but I usually use old dryer sheets. Has anyone noticed how those dryer sheets have shrunk? I can only get 5 in. squares without piecing them.
#54
Anything 3/4" wide, or larger I keep. All my thread snipets and smaller pieces first go in a plastic container and when that's full, I dump it in a big Ziploc bag. I've been participating in Superior University and they said at the beginning to save all your scraps and threads for a project later. So I have been saving. I'm thinking it'll be a make your own fabric with wash away interfacing.
#55
Super Member
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Central Wisconsin
Posts: 4,391
Who says you have to make 1/4 inch seams? 3/16 and 1/8 inch seams work too. The smaller the pieces are, the smaller I make the seams. That way, I can use a 1/2 inch strip and make two 1/8 in. seams. You do have to have good fabric to do this though, but it's only the really good fabric that I can't bear to throw away.
#56
Banned
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Sturbridge, Ma
Posts: 3,992
I save everything even the litle strips from straightning up fabric and then give them to groups who do weaving and other craft projects. I have groups that work with children in art classes. I sort in bags. A teacher friend has a class in rug weaving. She welcomes the narrow strips. I use larger strips for string quilts for Charity. Nothing is tossed.
#57
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Sierra Vista, AZ
Posts: 3,992
I thought it was just me, dryer sheets have shrunk. I save every little scrap also. One of my goals is to use up my three totes of crumbs to make a "crumby" quilt. But that is after I finish the three quilt projects up on the design board.
#58
I am your clone, that is exactly what I do and I don't call it miserly but being sensible. As one well known quilters said the scraps and snippets of fabric cost exactly the same as a yard!
#59
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Woodmere, NY
Posts: 1,422
I save everything even the litle strips from straightning up fabric and then give them to groups who do weaving and other craft projects. I have groups that work with children in art classes. I sort in bags. A teacher friend has a class in rug weaving. She welcomes the narrow strips. I use larger strips for string quilts for Charity. Nothing is tossed.
#60
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Camarillo, CA
Posts: 4,601
I also try to follow Bonnie Hunter's Scrap User System. Here is a link to the information on her website:
http://quiltville.com/scrapusersystem.shtml
http://quiltville.com/scrapusersystem.shtml
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
leatheflea
Pictures
8
08-25-2011 06:36 PM
craftybear
Links and Resources
4
07-27-2011 07:29 PM
dolores
Main
6
11-08-2010 01:16 PM