Day: December 21, 2015

Turkey Tracks:  December 21, 2015

Playing with Fabric “Crumbs”

What do you do with small pieces of quilting fabric that are too small to use in something like a strip or a square?

I learned from Bonnie Hunter to call them “crumbs,” and to use them.  Quilting fabric is now around $12 a yard and the width has shrunk from 44-45 inches to 40-42.  (How greed can kill an industry.)

Like Bonnie, I throw these pieces in a bag and when it gets full, I start a project that uses them.  I also throw in large trimmed pieces that have been already sewn together.

(At the very least, you could use these scraps to stuff a dog or cat bed…)

Here’s my ongoing “crumb” project:

Some of the pieces are larger, but would not cut into a 2-inch square.  I don’t cut into 1 1/2-inch squares because they would be too bias stretchy.  I use 1 1/2-inch strips to form small squares.

I played with making fabric from the crumbs–which was kind of interesting.  And you could cut squares out of a piece like this and use the remainders to form more blocks.  If you use those blocks as a center with sashings around–or as a center to a larger pieced block, you’d have an interesting quilt.

Right now, though, I’m interested in creating sashings.  So here’s my growing pile of sashings:

I cut my large piece of “made” fabric into diagonal strips measuring 2 2/1 inches wide.  I use a backing piece of paper to sew these sashings and then I trim them up on the cutting board.  I can sew strips together to get the length I want.

I’m thinking of using these with this block, which you’ve seen before:

Stay tuned…

So, I warn you…

This kind of “play” is addictive.