sorting scraps--where do I start?

Suppose you have a good friend that passes along a bag of scraps to you. It can be exciting and wonderful, especially if you love scraps like I do. (They are my favorite!!!) But, it can also be a bit overwhelming. A lot of people ask, "where do you start?" I'm happy to tackle that question today.

This is a bag of scraps that my friend Mary recently passed along to me. It's a garbage bag  FULL of scrappy goodness!

She was happy to have it out of her house. I was happy to bring it home.

The first step is to dump it out onto the floor. If you have a quilting buddy, it's nice to invite them to the party. For my initial sort, I asked my daughter to join me. We had a blast! She claimed a sizeable pile of her favorite fabrics and I look forward to making something special for her out of those scraps.

She likes ALL of the novelty fabric! It's cute.

After you dump it all out, jump in (literally or figuratively) and just start sorting! Usually my categories go something like this:
-Trash/junk pile.
-Donate pile-if it doesn't inspire you, pass it along to someone else.
-Stacks of things that inspire you-Polka dots! Fun color combos that catch your eye.
-Solids.
-Odd fabrics-laminated fabric, linen, canvas, etc.
-Larger pieces of fabric that are a mainly one color-sort them by color.
-Strings-long skinny strips 2 1/2" wide or less.

You can make as many or as few piles as you wish when you are sorting. I usually have a LOT!

solids-sorted into neutrals/whites/colors

dots!

strings

 

This gets messy and it takes time, but be patient and have fun with it. If you get overwhelmed or if you run out of time, put away the pieces that you have sorted. Put the rest of the (unsorted) scraps back into the bag. It's ok! Sorting in stages is a good thing. It can keep that overwhelming feeling at bay.

When I got this bag of scraps, I made a few zipper pouches using some laminated fabric and quilting cotton scraps. It was a nice project to dive into right away. I used up the laminated scraps, so I wouldn't have to find a place to store them. After that, I put most of the scraps back in the bag. I knew I would deal with them eventually. The have come in handy several times already.

When I am working on a scrappy quilt, (like my pineapple quilt, for instance) I will get to a point where I feel stuck/feel limited by my fabric selection. That is the PERFECT time to go scrap diving in the big old bag of scraps. (Think of it as the equivalent of dumpster diving. Ha!) You never know what you will find, but most likely you will find something that will work. It's helpful to inject some variety into the quilt part of the way through.

This isn't an all inclusive scrap sorting post, by any means, but hopefully it will motivate and encourage you to tackle your scraps!  If you want more indepth information about scrap sorting and storing, there is an entire chapter devoted to it in Sunday Morning Quilts.

This, of course, is just one way to do it! The most important thing is to find a system that works for you. In an upcoming post, I plan to share how I store my scraps. Hopefully you won't discover just how crazy I really am! (Gulp.)

If you have any questions about scrap sorting, I'd be happy to answer them in the comments.

Happy Monday to you!