I love an empty refrigerator. When it’s empty it usually means EVERYTHING has been used. Granted, it could signal that everything rotted and was thrown away, but imagine it’s empty because all the items were consumed. As a devotee of sustainability, I like that.
This translates to my scrap basket as well and, to that end, I sell bundles of hand dyed cotton and linen scraps in my store.
The idea originated with another online retailer that sold patch kits of matching fabrics for their clothes. I hadn’t bought the clothes, but the fabric scraps appealed to me and I ordered the patch kits which were sold by weight. Wanting to do something special with these lovely leftover bits, I combined them with my hand dyed linen to make a series of pillow covers:
I loved the mystery of not knowing exactly what would come in the random collection of scraps as well as the challenge of organizing and directing them toward a beautiful and useful project.
An idea was born! In the course of hand patterning and dyeing fabric for my customers and myself, many scraps are created. I test patterns and colors, dye gradients of a color and don’t use or sell all, or just get carried away dyeing fabric and it doesn’t have a home in my projects. All these activities created scraps which I weighed (each bundle weighs 4 oz.) and tied and listed in my shop.
I’m assuming you all the mystery and challenge of creating with scraps because these quickly became my bestselling item.
Which, of course, led to a new desire: cataloguing and creating projects to inspire present and future scrap bundle purchasers. The cataloguing was pretty easy. I created a Pinterest Board, Scrap Makes, with a variety of projects.
Creating was a little more challenging. I wanted to feature projects beyond just patching together the scraps to make coasters or potholders. Though terrific projects and super-useful, they’re particularly original.
A friend’s pregnancy inspired what I hope will be the first of a series of Scrap Makes.
I wanted to make a group of mini, animal-themed, wall quilts to hang in the baby’s nursery and I envisioned these simple, yet graphic, creatures crafted out of a scrap bundle.
Fabric is pretty lightweight, so 4 oz. is actually a good amount of fabric!
Having spread out the contents of the bundle, I organized the fabrics into two groups, warm and cool colors. I selected a few in each group, combined these bits with coordinating hand dyed solids for the backgrounds of my mini quilts, and started stitching.
The variety of scraps and size of the patches in each mini quilt dictated a bit of piecing, but I was left with plenty of fabric for at least one more project and, if combined smartly with other fabrics, possibly two.
The plan for project #2 is already hatched, so stay tuned for that. In the meantime, I’m curious, what will you make with your bundle?