I've been talking alot about scraps and scrap quilts.
Something's been wrong, though.
This is not Effective Scrap Management.
The scraps have been reproducing more rapidly than usual, making for an impossible mess.
Time for an Upgrade.
Ikea to the rescue! These cute wooden boxes looked like they would do the job. I bought 9 of them, which is what I had space for.
Of course, they had to be assembled. That took a little over an hour.
Then, they had to be filled, which took significantly longer.
I lined the empty boxes up on my bed and just started sorting scraps by color, one piece at a time. Sometimes it felt like an archeological excavation-- there were some really old fabrics in there, even a few from my very first quilt.
Some colors, like red, green, blue, and light neutrals, got individual boxes.
Some colors are much less represented, so I made carboard dividers. Black, yellow and orange can share a box.
Christmas scraps got their own box, a nice upgrade from their previous storage venue (a gallon-sized ziploc bag).
Much better!
Do you have a specific size you will keep and will throw away? Love the box idea! I need to upgrade mine soon, my current drawer system is filling up too fast.
ReplyDeleteWell, I confess I don't keep the really tiny ones. I'm not particularly obsessed with Keeping Every Single Piece! I probably toss out anything narrower than 1 1/2 inches or so. And I admit that I did throw out some small pieces when I was sorting out the scraps for the new bins. I just don't see myself using them.
ReplyDeleteMight try boxing up the small ones you don't want to keep and Ebay them. You'd be surprised who buys scraps there, no matter the size. (I myself bought a 12 pound box of scraps to get my scrap collection started).
ReplyDeleteI need to make an Ikea run to get more quilting and garage organizers! Those wooden boxes look perfect.
I never would have thought to sell them on Ebay--thanks for the tip Katie!
ReplyDelete