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I spent Sunday afternoon cleaning up, putting away, and organizing in the sewing studio. It was unreasonably calming and refreshing, at the same time. You can’t imagine how much difference it has made. Anyway, I was well into the third pile of scraps and thought this mess could become a tutorial.

So, here we are. Understand that there were several piles to organize. Much of it was in a basket that collected cut-offs, pieces of blocks–that I had spent hours searching for–rejects, and even a pair of small scissors that managed to work its way to the very bottom and rest there for what has probably been months. Ah, but now I’ve got you! And you will scissor!

The cast-offs from Ryder’s safari quilt created a second pile. This one I tossed into the trash. Pulled most of it out to use as test scraps. Then tossed into a different trash bin. I am likely going to play that game until Richard empties the bin. Let’s hope he doesn’t discover the pieces and think they are there by accident because he will set them aside. Oh, don’t think this pile was an easy fix. Tossing fabric is a serious quilt crime!

The third pile contained scraps from a sweet friend who appliques the most beautiful tops. She brought three small shopping bags, filled to the brim of gorgeous fabrics. Much of it Kaffe Fasset!

I like to dump the pile out of the container and spread it out. It’s easier to organize since I can see it better, but pieces can escape. Of course, I don’t mind. They show up again…usually when I sweep.

All of my scraps are organized by color (see the photo above). While I use rainbow order, I’ve added a few colors to the list. Currently, I have neutrals, pink, brown, and black in addition to roygbvi. Perhaps I should add a teal/turquoise bin, and split the neutrals to white and off-white.

I don’t worry with ironing because I always press scraps as I pull them for use. They get pushed and smushed as I add more to the bin, so they’ll be wrinkled no matter what I do while sorting.

Prints with lots of colors have always been a organizational problem for me. Background colors have been the biggest factor in my decision-making. I’ve also tried to solve it by separating novelty fabrics into a separate theme, but that hasn’t helped. So now I take a different approach. I decide where a particular scrap should go based on color and use. For example, all four of the pieces below are children’s novelty and, obviously, the two on the right could go into the pink bin–though the one with the white background might also fit in a white group.

The two on the left could also fit in a white group. In the end, however, I put all four in the pink group. The prints for all four give a childish, playful vibe. They all have some pink. I will likely use them in little girl quilts, and I use lots of pink in little girl quilts. Thus, chances are I’ll see them as I dig through the pinks.

A question that people often ask is what do I do with oddly shaped pieces? Cut them into particular sizes/shapes? I do not cut scraps unless doing so clearly makes sense. I want my scraps to be as big as possible. Cutting them down when I use them is always an option. But there are instances. I cut the pieces in this photo for two reasons: they can’t be used as they are, and they’re messy in the bins.

So, I cut the brown one into two pieces, keeping the wider section as large as possible. The blue I cut into three pieces, angling the cuts so that I was able to keep the triangular shapes. They certainly aren’t perfect triangles, but I can work with them from this point forward.

Two more strange pieces to figure out how to handle. Here they are below. Cut and separated so you can see where the cuts are. The blue and white will probably be cut again to create a triangle with the one on the right and depending on what I need, either a long strip or two math shapes I can’t remember the names of.

I simply cut the lime/blue in the skinniest sections. I still have a few options when recutting, but it won’t tangle up as easily. All of my cuts were made with my favorite scissors or the rotary. I don’t worry about straight cuts or finished pieces. The idea is to get them into bins. This lime/blue one went into the green bin, but it could have just as easily gone into the blue or red ones. It so happens that there were lots of blue scraps. There you go…my theory or method of scrap sorting. Very scientific and time-consuming.

Just for fun, here’s a post about how I organized my studio when it was first completed, and an old Sunday Quilt Inspiration from 2018 with lots of Pinterest photos.