Scrappy quilts and projects can be a fun and creative way to turn leftover fabric into something beautiful. To make the most of quilting scraps, it’s important to have a system for storing and organizing your small and leftover fabric pieces. In this blog post, we’ll explore four sorting techniques for quilting scraps that are easy and efficient!
Sort Quilting Fabric Scraps by Color
Sorting quilting scraps by color can be a simple or complex as you want. You can group warm colors together, neutrals together, and cool colors together. You could also go the route of sorting in to separate color piles according to the rainbow. As you sort through your scraps, you can easily set them aside in their respective piles, making it easier to find the exact colors that you may need for your project. With the color sorting method, creating colorful scrappy quilts will become a breeze.
Pre-cut your Quilting Scraps and store by size
Sorting quilting scraps by size is a great way to keep your scraps organized and efficient. Start by gathering all your scrap pieces and placing them on a flat surface. (Try not to get overwhelmed if you have a lot!) Then, begin sorting them according to their length and width. Group the scraps that are the same size together, and create a designated spot for each size range. Afterward, you can easily work through the stacks, trimming them down to usable sizes. We typically cut our scraps into the following sizes:
- 2 ½” strips
- 1 ½” strips
- 2 ½” squares
- 3 ½” squares
- 4 ½” squares
- 5” squares
- 10” squares for really big scraps
This is also a great way to always be sorting your scraps vs. getting overwhelmed because there are so many. Initially it might be a lot to get them trimmed into usable sizes, but once they are trimmed they are easy to grab for your next project instead of having to sort through all your scraps once you decide on a project.
Use Clear Storage Containers, Jars, or Bins
For some quilters, sorting quilt fabric scraps is too much and they just group everything together into one centralized location. And for some, once they have one or two bins of scraps, they consider their scraps overflowing. Once the bin or bins are full, they tackle those scraps, either using them in a project, donating them, or deciding that they are too small and throwing them away or using them for stuffing in other projects. Setting a limit on scraps in this way can really help you avoid overwhelm and manage the amount of scraps that you keep.
How to give this method a try: Pick a storage container, whatever type makes you happy and see if the freedom of tossing all scraps into that container is easier that another system for you. Then once it fills up pick a project and get scrappy!
Sort your Scraps by Fabric Type or Fabric Manufacturer
For some makers, they opt to sort their quilting fabric scraps by fabric type. Whether it is the type of fabric: woven, solids, prints; or they sort by fabric manufacturer and/or designer, this is the method that they enjoy. This option allows you to keep similar fabrics together so if you wanted to make a scrap quilt with all solids it is easy to grab from your solid scraps, or maybe if you take part in a quilting bee and the recipient requests all Ruby Star Society (RSS) fabrics it’s easy for you to locate all of your RSS scraps.
With the right sorting techniques, your quilting scraps will be organized and ready to be used in your next project. By grouping items by color, size, and/or fabric type, you can easily find the items you need without wasting precious time searching. Plus, having an organized space means you can spend more time doing what you love – quilting.
Hopefully some of the tips in this blog post help you get started organizing your quilting scraps. Have additional tips or tricks you’d like to share? Leave a comment with your thoughts below!
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