My Crumby Sewing Adventures – Scrap Busting

When it comes to using up scraps quilters definitely know what they’re doing. I mean, if you really think about it, quilting is just taking random pieces of fabric and putting them together to make new pieces of fabric!

I know there’s so much more to quilting than that. To me, quilts are like works of art. This is one of the reasons I stay away from quilting. I may be good at creative problem solving but I am not artistic. This doesn’t mean non-quilters can’t learn a thing or two from quilters.

In this post, I’ll show you how to use a quilting technique called crumb piecing to make new pieces of fabric that can be used for all kinds of sewing projects.

What is Crumb Piecing

Crumb piecing is a quilting technique where small fabric scraps, often irregularly shaped, are sewn together in a random or improvisational manner to create a patchwork design. These small fabric pieces, or “crumbs,” are pieced together to form larger fabric pieces, which can then be incorporated into quilt blocks or other quilted projects. Crumb piecing allows quilters to make use of even the tiniest fabric scraps, resulting in unique and visually interesting quilt designs. It’s a creative way to reduce fabric waste and add texture and dimension to quilts.

Of course, fabric made from crumb piecing doesn’t have to be used in just quilting. I plan to make a crumb tote bag eventually. For now, though, let’s start small with some crumb bookmarks.

The Process

Sew

Trim

Press

Trim

Repeat

The Only Rule is That There are No Rules

There are no rules. If you want to be random and use everything you have, then do it. If you want everything to have some color cohesion, then do it!

If you want to jump in right now but you don’t have enough crumb-sized pieces you can just cut what you have into smaller pieces. Don’t worry, I won’t tell.

If you want to use larger pieces instead of tiny pieces that’s totally fine!

This is your project and your vision, do what you want.

Speaking of Having a Vision

When I started sewing my crumb pieces I made the pieces large enough to get 6 1/2″ x 6 1/2″ squares and then I immediately sewed these squares together. The plan was to eventually have a big piece that I would use to make a tote bag. I realized that as I went along and trimmed and resewed the pieces in the squares were getting smaller and smaller. This made the finished fabric piece look uneven because one side had large pieces while the other side had tiny pieces.

I ended up unpicking and taking the squares apart and eventually, I cut them into smaller 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ squares to be randomly sewn back together later.

Working With What I Have

Until now a lot of my scraps were either donated to my daughter for doll making or to my church so they could sell them to a recycling company so I didn’t have a lot of scraps on hand.

The scraps I’ve been using are old pieces I found deep in my stash and from new projects.

Going Forward

I think it would be neat to save your scraps from a year of sewing and put them all together as a type of time capsule. Something like “my year in a quilt block.”

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