A Bit of Scrap Management

I have done a complete 180 in my quilting lately. I have decided put my usual Civil War reproduction fabrics aside for a little while and to make some quilts using bright and cheerful fabrics. I have really enjoyed purchasing new fabrics and picking out new quilt patterns to make. A lot of the quilts I want to make are very scrappy, so I decided that a bit of scrap management was also in order.

Here's  a picture I took of the mountain of scraps that I started with. I had been stuffing them into a LARGE bag for years! I started by sorting them by color, but decided that wasn't going to work best.

So then I resorted by sizes. I put small scraps in one pile, larger scraps in another and strips in a third. I spent days and days trimming all of my scraps into the largest possible usable pieces. As I trimmed I then sorted them by color. When I was finished this is what I had-usable scraps!!

I also had this!!!

All those trimmings overflowed my little trash can.

My cutting mat was a huge mess too. I had to clean it with a lint brush to get all the threads off.

Of course, now that I had all these neatly trimmed scraps I needed a place to store them and keep them sorted. My husband said I am the only woman who would spend money to store something that most people would throw away! I beg to differ.  :)

I found this great rolling cart with ten shallow drawers that fit my scraps to a tee. Each drawer is about 15X13"-perfect for my needs. I got it here from Amazon-it shipped free with Prime and I got it in two days, which is great, because I was very impatient to get these scraps put away. Some assembly was required (OK, I had to put the whole thing together, but it only took about 15 minutes.) I had the perfect little spot for it too.

I'm able to fit two colors of scraps per drawer.

Pinks and reds are in the top drawer. Teals and blues are in drawer number two.

Green and yellow share the third drawer. My emptiest drawer houses my orange and purple scraps. They are my least favorite colors, so I don't buy many, though lately I have found myself buying some oranges. My friends are all shocked. :)

I saved a drawer for all the whites and creams with different color prints on them. Blacks and browns were my last two piles.

Since I had "extra" drawers I decided to put all of my 1930's reproduction scraps in a drawer all their own. I also saved a drawer just for all the scrap strips I had cut. I MAY go back later and mix them in by color, it will depend on how I find myself using them. For now, they are here.

Since I have SO many Civil War reproduction fabrics I thought the last two drawers could be used for them, but I was in for a surprise. Not only did they not all fit, I still have a basket full of scraps! 

After all the time I spend cutting and sorting scraps, I have managed to find a LOT more fabrics scraps that need my attention! For the time being, they are going to just hang out on the top of the scrap drawers. Those will be for another day. At least I have made some progress.....

Happy organizing!