5 Ways to use Fabric Scraps to make your own Fabric
Sewers and quilters know that at the end of your sewing projects you are inevitably faced with the pile of fabric scraps leftover after all the trimming and sewing.
Some people have elaborate systems for using certain sizes of leftover fabric strips or squares of a certain size — or they’ve built up a bank of go to scrap fabric projects to use up these leftover pieces of fabric.
But what do you do when your scraps are really small? Or strangely shaped? And what do you do with your fabric selvedge edges?
I’ve got 5 ways for you to use those small fabric scraps to make your own fabric or ‘yardage’.
You can make an entire piece of fabric in several different ways or you can use the basic method in each tutorial to turn fabric scraps into strips or panels to be used in quilt blocks, bags, or other fun project ideas.
For each method below you will find a link to the full tutorial plus some cute ideas about what to do with the pieces of fabric you make.
I also have a free sewing pattern for a scrappy quilt called ‘X Marks the Scrap’ that is designed to highlight some of this ‘made fabric’ – you can use any of the methods below to make the central X in the quilt blocks.
Materials Needed
This post contains affiliate links – please see my disclosure policy for more details.
- Sewing Machine & Thread
- Scrap Material – either scraps of fabric in different colors or selvedge edges (see different methods below for exact materials required).
- Light weight fusible (for method 1 below)
- Adding machine tape (for method 2 and optional for method 3)
- Quilt batting scraps (optional for method 3)
- Rotarty cutter and ruler
- Acrylic template (optional for method 5)
5 Ways to use Fabric Scraps to make your own Fabric
It's time to clean up your sewing room and find some creative ways of using the extra fabric scraps from all your sewing and quilting projects.
For this post I'm showing you 5 different ways you can make 'new' fabric out of the scrap pieces that might be cluttering up your sewing space!
This tutorial is all about how to make pieces of fabric from oddly shaped scraps of one fabric or several fabrics in the same colorway.
Think about the little triangles that get cut off when trimming certain types of quilt blocks or the kinds of strange-shaped scraps you get when you use an acrylic template to cut out applique shapes.
You can turn those leftovers into new fabric without having to trim them to a particular size.
Click below for the step by step instructions or to watch the video tutorial.
A fun way to use thin scraps is to group them into a color family and sew them to adding machine tape to make scrappy strips.
You don't have to color group of course, many people like to go completely random for these but I've written a free quilt pattern all about how to use these scrappy strips and I think it looks best when the strips have some sort of a color story to them.
Other uses for these strips:
- cut down to form parts of traditional quilt blocks
- make a quilt border
- add to panels to make pouches or bags
- use them to make bookmarks
- make funky fabric book covers
- sew several together to make a scrappy strip quilt block
Click below for the step by step instructions or to watch the video tutorial.
This way to make fabric from your selvedge edges can be done in strips with adding machine tape similar to the method above or it can be done quilt-as-you-go style straight onto quilt batting or another type of foundation.
This is a great way to use every last bit of that lovely fabric. It can also be a great memory bank showing all the different fabrics and different patterns you have sewn with over the years.
You can use selvedge fabric to make:
- selvedge string quilts
- coin purse, zipper pouch or pencil case
- panel for a tote bag
- bookmark or a keychain
- cut down to size to use as part of traditional quilt blocks
Click below for the step by step instructions or to watch the video tutorial.
I love crumb piecing or 'crumb quilting'. You can turn small scraps into single quilt blocks, panels for home decor projects or just keep adding and adding to make a huge piece of fabric or an entire quilt top.
I like to use a color scheme for my crumb quilting but of course you can go as random as you like - you could even add crazy stitching and make full on crazy quilts.
Click below for the step by step instructions or to watch the video tutorial.
Use your tiny pieces of fabric to have a play and make these small improv quilt blocks.
Actually, you can make them any size you like but mine are 3.5" square.
You can piece them all together to make your own fussy cut fabric or scrappy quilt top or you can use them for smaller projects like a mini zipper pouch or coasters.
I find making these mini improv blocks is a great way to wind down at the end of a sewing session as well as a fun way to stop your scrap bins from overflowing!
Click below for the step by step instructions or to watch the video tutorial.
More ways to make good use of fabric scraps and fabric remnants
- Easy Sailboat Quilt – Made with fabric remnants
- Scrappy Disappearing 9 Patch Quilt
- A Scrappy Quilt with Scrappy Binding (& even Scrappy Quilting!)!
- Learning to Quilt: ‘Learner’s Quilt’ Sampler Part 2 – made with larger pieces of fabric remnants from home decor projects
- Mini Quilt-as-you-go Keychain
- How to make a Scrap Fabric Bookmark from Teeny Tiny Trimmings
- Baby Colour Book from Scraps
Looking for even more ways to use fabric scraps? Check out our sister site Upcycle My Stuff and this bumper list of great ideas for leftover fabric scraps.
