Dealing with the Scraps can sometimes be a process. There are all sorts of ways to deal with them. You can throw them all into one big tub (I have several tubs full). You can sort them out by color, no matter the shape or size (I have some sorted like this as well). You can box them up and give them away (I also do this, simply because I have too many, and there are certain types of fabrics that I don’t ever sew with, so I pass them on to someone who will).

Or . . . you can “process” them — turn them into usable shapes and sizes that work for your projects. This is my favorite way to deal with them. I know this takes time, and at the time you’re doing it, it can seem like time wasted, but I have found that the time spent processing now is time saved later on down the road, and it feels good then.

If you have a good system in place, you can process your scraps as you go, which prevents them from having to pile up in tubs elsewhere. With my new scraps, this is the point I am at. I keep a basket on my cutting table, and as I cut out Quilt pieces — for any quilt — I either cut the scraps up into specific sizes right then while I’m cutting, or I put them in the basket to be dealt with on weekends. If there is anything in the basket on the weekend, I spend a few minutes processing it so that I can start the next week out “clean”!

But what about those tubs of older scraps? Or the bags or boxes given to me by other people? Well, I always say you can’t use it if you don’t even know what you have, so I spend a few minutes each week processing stuff from the bags and boxes.

Don’t fool yourself into thinking this is a quick thing (even if your bag or box is small). It takes time. Since my scraps are all crammed into said bag or box, they first have to be pressed. I just do this a handful at a time.

During the pressing process, I sort them.

Strings are put aside for the string bucket. Selvages and triangles are set aside for my friend, Barb. Pieces too small for anything are thrown away. The rest are pressed and taken to the cutting table to be cut into usable sizes.

Here’s what that handful looks like after being sorted and pressed:

If I have time, I cut them up right away, just to have them done. If I don’t have time to cut them up right then, they go in the basket to be dealt with on the weekend.

Here’s what that pile looks like after being cut up into my preferred sizes and added to my little stacks:

As for HOW I cut them up, I cut them into my preferred pre-cut sizes that I keep in my rolling cart, but I also cut any pieces that I can for any scrap quilts I have going on. So in that pile above, you can see some regular pre-cut sizes, but also lots of pieces for scrap quilts I’m working on. If any more triangles emerge while cutting, I set those aside for Barb, too.

The last thing to do with them is put them where they belong, either in the drawers of the rolling cart or stored with each ongoing project so they can be used.

The main reason I don’t consider this to be time wasted is because . . . when I’m ready to start a scrap project, or I just want to make one scrap block at a time, or I need some filler pieces for another scrap quilt, I can simply go to the appropriate drawer and pull out pieces that are already cut.

I recently started a new scrap quilt, and the first thing I did was pull from the pre-cut drawers, and by the time I did that, my new quilt was already nearly halfway cut out — it saved me so much time cutting out the new quilt, that I got it done in a short time and could begin sewing right away! And it keeps my pre-cut drawers from overflowing!

I’ll talk a bit more about that in a future post — about how I use the pre-cut pieces that I store in the drawers. I know this method is not for everyone — it all depends on how many and what types of scraps you save, how you work, and what types of quilts you make. But if any little bit of this information helps spark an idea on how to organize and use your stash a bit more efficiently, then I’m happy to help!