A Closer Look At The Process

Never have I devoted such a huge amount of time to sewing nothing but scraps. I had no idea it would be as time consuming as it has been. 

Now don't get me wrong. I am glad that I've done this. I took lots of time over the past 5 years or so trimming and prepping all these scraps, so putting myself to the task of turning the scraps into something useful was always going to be the necessary next step. Using the 3 snowbird months to focus on this was a really good idea. Besides making a few curtains, a pillow cover and two slipcovers, I have only stitched scraps into 9-patches and 4-patches.

 My 2.5-inch scraps contained an impressive mountain of strips. I dumped them all out onto the guest bed and removed all the Kaffe Fassett strips. I will use those all together - maybe with some solids. That's all yet to be determined.

With the remaining strips, I paired them in pleasing combinations and began chaining. 

And chaining. 

Miles and miles of chaining. 

The collection of long strips you see above is a mere fraction of what I have waiting to be subcut into 2.5-inch units. I did cut a lot of them, but have many, many more to do once I get home. I made it my goal to sew as many of the strips as possible, attempting to pair ALL of them. That did not happen, but I did lots, and it feels as though I made a significant dent in them. For the ones I did subcut, I now have quite a nice-size collection of 4-patch blocks that will serve me well when I decide what quilt - or quilts! - these will become.

 

The photo above shows the subcut units. I stack these near the iron and press them to finish.

I had an equally hefty tub of 2.5-inch squares. Mostly, the squares are singletons or perhaps just a few squares of the same fabric. Not entirely, though, so I sorted out the squares with lots of repeats. My thinking was that if I could make 15-20 blocks that were all the same, then I could create a quilt with the "organized" scrappiness that I frequently prefer. I also sorted out neutral fabrics. I learned with the 1.5-inch scraps I used in January, that sorting saves time. I still know that to be true, and will continue sorting when I get to the 2-inch scraps which I will eventually get to.

With all this scrap stitching, I did create a few routines into the process. For example, I always pressed to the dark on the side seams, and pressed open on the final center seam. I made all my squares have the darker fabric in the upper left and lower right. And, I rarely lifted my presser foot. I employed the Bonnie Hunter method of "leaders and enders" so as to waste as little thread as possible. (Google Bonnie Hunter or 'leaders and enders' - you'll definitely learn, if you're unfamiliar.)

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne