Whether you make to sell, sew, or quilt, you are bound to find yourself with plenty of leftover scraps of fabric on hand. So, what do you with all this surplus material? Before you decide to discard, donate, sell, or swap your fabric scraps, take a moment and think about all you can do with them. Unlike other supplies that expire like markers, glue, decoupage medium, and paint, fabrics tend to have a long shelf life as long as they’re properly stored.
As a tailor or quilter, consider keeping your scraps such as silk fabric, velvet, cotton or more as they could come in handy the next time you get a great project idea. The accumulation of prints and colours means that you have lots of options to choose from your selection of leftover scraps.
Mismatched fabrics are great for making cool patches on clothing or quilts. With an organised fabric craft room comes loads of possibilities: from material to fill fragrant pouches and sachets; to scraps, you can use to repair your children’s stuffed animals; to fabric, you can use to make scrunchies that bring back nostalgic memories of the 1980s and 90s.
Apart from that, you can use smaller pieces of scrap fabric to teach your children how to sew and still have enough for them to practice their skills. As they improve, you can teach them how to sew little doll clothes or make quilts for their favourite dolls. At the same time, scraps allow them to learn new things as they watch and follow you as you sew. Scrap pieces of fabric are a great way to learn and improve sewing skills.
While leftover pieces of fabric are unavoidable, they certainly do not have to go to waste. There are plenty of projects that one can do to make better use of fabric scraps. These ideas can end up being great gifts not just for yourself, but also for your family and friends. With a combination of decorations, practical applications, and accessories for your scraps, you shouldn’t have a problem making the most of leftover fabrics. Waste not; want not.
Sleep Mask
If you find it hard to enjoy some shuteye in bright or lit environments (or know someone that does), then a sleep mask could prove very handy. Fortunately, these masks are easy to sew – all you need is scrap pieces of soft fabric that effectively blocks light such as cotton flannel, and you are good to go.
Scrunchies
Scrunchies were the go-to hair accessory for most of us back in middle school. With plenty of fabric scraps at hand, you can bring back a blast from the blast by sewing hair scrunchies that you can gift your friends or use yourself.
Drawstring Pouches
You can also turn your leftover pieces of fabric into little pouches that hold treats, messages, and trinkets. Use matching colours or contrasting patterns to sew together pouches made from scrap fabric. Don’t forget all about the drawstring as it’s what keeps the contents of a pouch secure.
Jewellery Bags
You can put your leftover pieces of fabric to good use by turning them into quilted jewellery rolls. These bags are a convenient and unique way to organise jewellery. Tight-weaved, thin cotton ribbons hold your earrings, necklaces, and bracelets in place. For your rings, a matching drawstring pouch will suffice.
Flower Pin
Leftover pieces of shirting fabric are ideal for sewing flower pins. Trace and cut petal shapes from your fabric and stack them together to make a flower. Use a circle felt to hold the flower together; it also serves as the flower’s centre. Once you are done with that, sew a pin on the back of your flower.
Stuffed Animals
Favourite stuffed toys and animals will suffer injuries in the course of their lifetime – and that’s where leftover scraps of fabric come to the rescue. When planning to perform “surgery” on your child’s favourite doll, a little creativity will go a long way. For instance, you could make the patch look like a little heart with either the name of the stuffed animal or their name sewed on it. Your child will appreciate the little gesture!