Are you like me? As you are working on a project, there are little pieces you know will be great for another project. How can I make sure I can find it when I want them? I’ve had a big bin with all of the scraps, I’ve sorted by color, I’ve sorted by size and I’m still looking for the perfect way to organize fabric scraps.
I asked a few people how they organize their fabric scraps to try to find the perfect scrap storage system for my sewing room.
Do you have a lot of fabric scraps? How do you manage your scrap fabric stash? What are the different ways you store your pieces? Is there a particular size you keep? What’s your biggest challenge managing types of scraps?
Some people don’t generate many scraps, so it’s not an issue for them. And, some communities accept scraps in compost bins. Irene Roderick doesn’t have much space in her studio and composts her scraps.
Here are some fabric scrap storage ideas:
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Read more about our affiliate linking policy.
Kim Diehl has found that the most efficient way to save her scraps is to take advantage of whatever fabric remains on her cutting table and cut it into 1 1/2” or 2 1/2” squares. These are sizes she often uses in her scrappy projects. Once cut, she tosses the squares in a jar dedicated to each size. They look pretty in the jar until she needs them, and there’s no additional pressing or cutting required. She has many quick choices when beginning a new quilt.
For Kit Vincent, anything that is less than a fat quarter, is thrown into one of these eight lightweight IKEA bins. Scraps are organized by colour and each bin has a small colour strip stapled to the front to identify the colour family.
The bins reside in an open shelving system and are easily available as soon as inspiration strikes. The open shelving units keeps the visual chaos to a minimum.
Kit had the challenge to find a way to untangle, sort, and organize her hand-dyed narrow strips of cloth she works with. She came across these hangers on Amazon.
The hangers allow Kit to organize each colour by several values, tones and shades, for a total of ten….sort of like a giant box of coloured paint sticks.
Cathy Perlmutter organizes her scraps based on the type of scrap. Her general and miscellaneous fabrics, mostly prints, are kept in a giant vintage blue suitcase.
Every now and then the cat digs out treasures and hides in the cave she’s created!
Batik scraps are stored in a separate transparent carrier
- Solid color scraps are stored in two small boxes. One is for blacks and greys, and the other box is for all of the other colors.
- Regular triangles are stored in a pizza-size project box.
- 4-inch squares of kid-friendly fabrics for baby quilts are saved in a shoe box.
- Very long strips that are a foot or longer are saved in a clear backpack. They can be any width.
- Selvages are in a big plastic box.
- Fusible-backed fabrics are stored in a big plastic box.
Mabelin Castellanos uses her scraps to make mug rugs. She saves her fabric scraps in a bin.
When she has a day when she’s not inspired to work on a larger project, she dips into her bin and makes mini pieces of art for mug rugs!
Susan Lenz is working on a new studio and plans on having her scraps in bins, being able to toss the scraps on the floor, find what she wants, and then put them all back in the bin.
Christen Brown: “I keep my fabrics for potential projects in boxes by color, then the scraps in bags varying in size, from small to smaller.
- Fabrics for a potential project in a box by color.
- Strips and larger pieces in the first bag.
- Small bits that can be stitched together to make yo-yo’s and hexis in the second bag.
- The smallest strips and bits in the final bag.
- I also save my left-over embroidery threads, and I mix these with the smallest strips of fabric to make bird’s nests.
Once a project is done, I combine the contents of bag 3 with the left-over embroidery threads. I arrange these into an aluminum aspic mold and with a little stitching, I create a bird’s nest out of these little bits.”
When Lyn Crump finishes a project, she refolds any larger-than-fat-quarter pieces and puts them back in her stash. All pieces smaller than a fat quarter are put into a resealable baggie that are later gifted to friends who make scrap or charity quilts.
If she has made a wedding quilt for a relative, she keeps all of the fabric left from their quilt together until she makes their first baby quilt. Then it is bagged and given away.
“Scraps do my head in and are better out of my mind space – unless they are bright multicoloured inspirational pieces!”
Linda Beach: I keep a basket for my scraps, purposely small so I’ll have to do something with them. What I’ve been doing is setting aside the skinny strips for that strippie quilt I’ll one day make.
Other pieces I cut into various sizes and shapes according to a favorite scrap quilt pattern I have. These are then sorted into dark, medium, and light values and placed in zip lock bags for the “someday” I’ll make this quilt!
Cynthia England used to save scraps in bins by color. She found that she wanted specific things when she’s into a project and wouldn’t take the time to go through the scraps, much less iron them.
Now, when she is finished with a project, she takes the fabric and folds it like she normally does to go on the shelf. If there are scraps left, she places them inside the fold of that fabric. That way, they are ready to go if she is looking for that color.
If the scraps are too small to do the fold, then they are dumped in a bin. When the bin is full it is donated.
Roxane Lessa has a variety of solutions for organizing her scraps:
- Only save scraps that are over 2” in any direction
- Save hand dyed scraps (most valuable to me)
- Iron them and sort by color
- Put in a large plastic ziplock for later use
- Save fused scraps in separate container
- Zip-loc bags can be stored in plastic bins or drawers
- Reuse them in later projects, like my Fractured Facets quilts, or mini quilt postcards, small quilts to be mounted on canvases, mug rugs, etc.
Fuzzy Mall: “Throughout the years of hunting in thrift stores to find material, I’ve found a few skirts, shirts, and dresses that will work flawlessly into any portrait, mimicking every level of melanin. Because I don’t buy yardage, I constantly live in ration mode. Once I use the last scrap, I won’t ever find it again.
My studio is also always in chaos. I prefer swimming in a three-foot pile of fabric as I’m piecing a quilt. Everything is askew but visibly accessible. To keep track of these valuable scraps, I keep them stored on an open shelf, isolated from the mess.”
Valerie Prideaux: “Most of my scraps are tumbler blocks. I decided to make a large tumbler quilt for our bed, using these blocks in a random arrangement. When it was quilted, but before I put the binding on, I put it on the bed to see how it looked. Our bedroom is small, and the quilt really dominated the room, and not in a nice way. I was not happy.
I put it away for a while, and- much to the horror of the friend who had long-armed it for me, I decided to cut it up. I ended up with a headboard cover, a tiny pillow, 2 table runners and 3 baby quilts. It was the quilt that kept on giving. I am so happy that I was brave enough to do that!
Where to start with organizing your fabric scraps
- Find all of your scraps. I had them in several places and bins. Figure out what you have.
- What kinds of scraps do you use? Which ones do you use more often? This will help you determine which ones to actually keep, and which ones to release to the world! I do use the strips when straightening the cut edge of a piece of fabric. If you don’t maybe we swap our scraps!
- Find a storage system that works well for you for the scraps you use and want to have handy. Make sure they are easily accessible – or you won’t use them.
- Like several of the makers above, if you have scraps that you won’t use donate them. Bring them in baggies or containers to retreats or guild meetings. Someone will probably be so happy to take them off your hand.
More great ideas for organizing fabric scraps
- Fold scraps inside your fat quarters. Who knows, it might be just the right size for the next project.
- Determine what are usable sizes for the work you do. If you work small, the tiniest bits might be useful for you. If you use 3″ finished half-square triangles often in your work, maybe cut your quilting cotton scraps into 3-7/8 inch squares.
- Use the off-cuts from truing up your fabric to make a fabric rope bowl.
- Use tiny pieces for confetti quilt projects.
- Save your strips and partial strips in a storage container to make a string quilt.
- If you use pre-cuts in your work, cut the scraps into those specific sizes: 1-1/2 inch strips for a honey bun, 2-1/2 inch squares for charm packs or charm squares, 2-1/2 inch strips for jelly rolls, and 5-1/2 squares for charm packs.
- Have a larger piece of fabric? Cut it into a fat eighth that is 9″ x 22″.
- Group scraps by color groups, value, or group cool colors together and warm colors together.
- See all of our fabric scrap project ideas
I use a variety of fabrics in my studio. I make garments, home dec projects, traditional quilts, art quilts, and more. I use commercially printed fabrics, solid fabrics, and fabrics I have painted on and added embellishments. I generate a lot of fabric scraps.
I’m finding that no single solution works.
I’m now using big bins to hold the fabrics that I’ve painted and added surface design. Silks and sheers are also in fabric bins under my cutting table.
Off-cuts are tossed into a cubby container under my cutting table to be used for fabric rope bowls.
When I am making cuts for quilts for common sizes, there always seems to be extra. Those are sorted by size in a drawer unit under my cutting table so they are easy to access when planning a project, especially a scrappy project.
I hope this has given you some ideas or inspiration, know there is no one perfect way to store all your scraps. If you find it, please share! Happy organizing, or not!
Check out our article on how to organize your fabric.
