I did it. I sorted, cut, and organized my scraps.
I now have boxes filled with 2½-inch strips and 2½-inch squares.
It all looks very neat and satisfying—almost as if I had a plan.
I did not.
Apparently, organizing scraps does not make them disappear. It simply transforms them from “random piles of fabric” into “neatly labeled boxes of fabric waiting for instructions.”
So now I need your help.
What are your favorite quilt patterns that use lots—and I mean LOTS—of 2½-inch strips or 2½-inch squares? I’m looking for something a little more interesting than sewing all the strips together and calling it a day. Bonus points if the pattern uses both strips and squares.
Right now, my scraps are organized, confident, and possibly multiplying inside those boxes.
Please share your favorite pattern names, links, or ideas in the comments. Help me find a quilt that will make a noticeable dent in this beautifully organized collection!
Thanks in advance!!
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“Let’s Get Scrappy is about how to decide, not about what to make.”
Let’s Get Scrappy is an on-demand online course that helps quilters overcome decision fatigue and finally make sense of their overflowing scrap bins. With four hours of step-by-step video instruction, you’ll learn simple systems for organizing, piecing, and pressing your scraps—so you can stop overthinking and start sewing beautiful, coordinated quilts with confidence and joy.
Most times I try to develop the habit of using the scraps from quilts immediately after finishing a quilt and there usually are some or at least a few. I have enough saved scraps so that now I’ve developed the rhythm of making a scrap quilt for every non-scrap quilt I make. I don’t sew anything less than 1″ in length or width because they are too small and difficult for me to handle. I take inventory at the end of the year of the amount of fabric (yardage and cuts and scraps) in my stash and for several years it has decreased from year to year. Occasionally I buy yardage (not often) and my overall decreasing rate of fabric use from year to year is about 2%. It will be a long time before I use everything I still have in my stash at this rate depending on how many quilts I can make in a given year. My average yearly completed quilts has been about 22. I think part of the art of quilting is to let your finished quilts inspire you to do more and connect each one to the others before it.