Zero-Waste Quilting

For the last 12 months I've been saving every single scrap of fabric and thread leftover from my quilting in one place. Because I'm cheap I try not to waste any fabric, but trimming inevitably creates scraps. As is my habit I used many of the scraps I generate for other projects this year. The real purpose was to discover how much textile waste I personally produce in one year that I didn't reuse. Here is the result for 2019, sorted into bags by size and type:

I'd say it's about three pounds of scraps. I can still reuse everything except these two bags:

The bag on the left is thread and fabric snips from my thread catcher, and the bag on the right are fabric pieces too thin to reuse for sewing. It's much less than I thought; maybe about eight ounces of waste in total. I could use these scraps as stuffing for a pin cushion, or material for a mixed-media art project, or even embellishments for my journal pages, so there's still a chance I can put them to work.

Is it possible to be a quilter and have zero waste? I think it depends on how creative you are with your leftover and scrap materials. Planning and purchasing the right amount of fabric for a project is definitely the first line of defense, and I'm already trying to do that. For 2020 I want to see if I can also be more mindful of the textile waste I create. I can certainly get into the habit of making quilt blocks from leftover fabric, and maybe by the end of the year have enough to make a sampler quilt.

Waste thread is more difficult to manage -- often my snips are less than a few inches in length -- but I've seen artists sandwich snips and threads between layers of tulle and top-stitch them into very pretty panels, so that's one possibility. I'll do more research and see what inspires me.

Comments

nightsmusic said…

I generally don't have much waste when I quilt either. I'm not nearly as creative as you though. If the pieces are small, I toss them. If they're a bit larger, I donate them to a local guild. I'm interested to see what you come up with.

December 25, 2019 at 8:01 AM

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