Skip to main content

Too Narrow?

I've been trying to figure out how to use the fabric scraps I have that are too narrow to sew, and found a video on using up even the tiniest scraps that inspired me to give it a try.

I tweaked her idea a bit by layering my strips on top of a piece of scrap muslin and lightweight Pellon fusible web, as the latter is the only fusible I have on hand. After ironing, I top-stitched the strips on the machine with a zigzag stitch:

It worked, so I trimmed the block and turned it into a mug rug with some scrap batting and another piece of muslin To hold everything in place I added more top-stitching, using a straight stitch:

It's a sturdy little piece, and definitely an easy way to use even the littlest bits of fabric. My one concern was that it's probably not going to survive the washing machine or the dryer, which would make it a bad technique to use for a quilt. So I put it through both, and here's how it looks after the wash and dry:

The raw edges of the fabric got a bit frayed and fuzzy, but the stitching kept them in place. The piece definitely has a bit of a chenille feel to it post-laudering, too. I had one spot where my stitching skipped a strip that popped that I had to tack down:

I think over time a quilt made with blocks like this would deteriorate much faster than patchwork, so maybe it's best to reserve it for a project that won't be frequently washed. But otherwise, a fun experiment.

Labels:

Comments

nightsmusic said…
I like the frayed and fuzzy edges. And it's cute!
June 30, 2020 at 7:05 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Downsizing

This was my fabric stash once I sorted everything -- 22 full bins. I spent a day taking out and boxing up what I could part with, with the goal of trying to reduce it by half, so I'd have 11 bins. I was very strict with myself, and removed everything that for one reason or another I was sure I wouldn't be able to use. This is what I ended up with -- 12 bins of fabric that I'm keeping. It's not quite half, but close enough. Half of what I took out went to a local quilter friend, a school and Goodwill. These four tightly-packed bins will be going to the local quilting guild once I make arrangements with them for a drop-off place. I am relieved and a little sad and now determined to control my impulses to thrift more fabric. I don't want to do this again, so until I use up six bins, I can't for any reason bring any new fabric into the house.
Post a Comment
Read more

In Progress

I promised myself I would show you the good, bad and ugly of my cleaning this year. This is what it looks like when you dump thirty years' worth of stashed fabric on the floor -- and oy, what a pain in the butt to pick up again! This is what it looks like after it's been sorted, folded and placed in containers, which took me about a week. Now the hard part is to downsize my stash by at least half, I think (that's my goal, anyway.) I've already e-mailed the president of the local quilting guild, a local friend who is a quilter, and a public school art teacher I know to see if I can donate some of the excess to them. The rest will go to Goodwill. Already I've reduced my vintage textiles from two bins to one, and my scraps from three bins to one. It's probably the hardest clean-out I've done, which is why I saved it until last. I know I have too much fabric, more than I can use in my lifetime -- but at the same time, I love it. So I have to
Post a Comment
Read more

Other Stashes

Along with clearing out the spare bedroom and tidying my office and our guest bedroom, I decided to reorganize some of my stashes. This is all the yarn I have on hand, sorted by color. It looks like a lot, but lately I've been using up a minimum of half a bin every month, so this is approximately a year's supply. All of my solid color cotton perle thread. I go through a lot of this every year, too. I need a container in which I can fit all of it together, but I haven't found the right one yet. I won't show you all of my fabric -- I'm still reorganizing this stash -- but I went through everything and donated two bins of fabric I won't need to the local quilter's guild.
Post a Comment
Read more