SSF Post # 17 : Anglea's Cuts and Pieces!

Hi all, today's guest is Angela from Cut to pieces! She is the creator of many a masterpieces on Flickr including her very fabulous Doll Quilt...





Her scrap system clearly shows how she can find those tiny pieces when she needs them... 


Go have a look... and dont forget to leave a comment you could be one of the two lucky gals to win a $30 worth Charm Packs from our own Fat Quarter Shop


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Hi Everyone! I'm Angela aka Twee ✁cut to pieces(on flickr) aka Tweedledee Designs (on Etsy) but I blog over at Cut To Pieces. So I'm a little confusing on the name front. But I promise, I'm really a quite organized person. When I agreed to do this post, I was in the midst of just beginning to think about reorganizing all of my fabric. This includes measuring yardage, sorting by colors, making swaps with people to get the fabric that I really want, and in general being VERY aware of every piece of fabric I own.

I also have been outgrowing my system for scrap storage for a while. I keep scraps of any reasonable size because I do tend to some raw edge applique that doesn't require a charm square size...those are stored in a whole different container! LOL. I must have been chopping up a good amount of my fabric and stealing scraps from other people and taking whatever I could get! Well...it adds up!

My original system worked quite well and I would recommend it for anyone who does not have as many scraps as I have. First of all, I sort my fabrics by color. When I'm looking for scraps, I'm generally searching by color. But you should use the organization method that works best for you. Perhaps you prefer to sort by collection.

I used a reasonably sized clear container with a flip lid for my original storage system for scraps. For me, it was important the containers be clear so that I can grab the right container easily because I can see what color is inside. For those in the US, I purchased these at Joann's and they go on sale all the time. Wait for a sale. ;)

Here they are stacked nicely in pairs...the smaller containers work well for extra binding storage or those super special scraps that you want to keep separate.

But does anyone notice a problem with this picture? Well obviously one of the containers is missing...it was the worst offender. But notice that blue scrap container? I didn't just forget to close it. I could no longer close it! And I had this huge basket that was FULL of scraps that needed to be sorted into the colored boxes.

You know things have gotten out of hand when your overflow scrap container is itself overflowing!

My greys could literally no longer be contained in their previous home! And forget trying to pull out just one piece. You had to pull out everything to get to just one thing!

Regardless of the bit of chaos you are seeing, this is a very valid method for storing scraps and worked well for me for quite a while. Like I said before, I just had accumulated too many scraps to make this system feasible for me any longer. I needed an upgrade!

So I researched and based on my general lack of funds (no dream sewing room for me yet!), I found a set of drawers that fit my needs in terms of height, width, and price. These Sterilite containers are drawers that pull out entirely if you squeeze them correctly or stay locked in place as a drawer. Plus the little holes let the fabrics breathe!

Currently I only have four because I've been having a ridiculous time finding them locally. Sigh. But I won't go into that. But I do intend to have at least 2 more to make an even 6. The greys, blues, and green all immediately went into their own drawers! lol. One of the nice things about the drawers is that they give me enough space to store some "larger scraps" that I was trying to store with the yardage fabric. And as a result I never saw them...they were getting lost amongst the larger pieces. But now they are big fish in a little pond. So I definitely know that they are there.

I still have a lot to do, but I am definitely making progress...it's a lot easier to throw scraps into a drawer than it was to pull the box off the shelf and add them to it. The drawers just give me more freedom in general. And never fear, those previous containers are not going to waste! I'm now using them to store my fat quarters. It's perfect for that as well!

I do have one set of scraps that is currently being stored all thrown together in a box because they are all the same fabric line. And that is my Katie Jump Rope Scraps. I'm making a quilt with KJR and it just makes sense to store these together for now. But when I am done, they will probably go into the color coded system just like all the other fabrics.

There is still a lot of work to do, but scraps are always coming and going, so it's a very amorphous system in many ways.

On the plus side, my yardage fabric storage is coming along nicely! :)

It won't be long now and I can't wait to see it all organized. I really did try to get it all done for you guys, but I've been having trouble getting all the materials that I need. So this is the realistic state that my fabric storage is in! I hope that you find it just a little helpful!

Angela