"Cut the Scraps!"

I've borrowed a quilting book from the library. It's called "Scraptherapy: Cut the Scraps!"

It caught my eye a few weeks ago, after I had started cutting up my fabric scraps into three inch strips, both long and short, for a multicolor diagonal quilt top design resembling a photo I saw online.

This book's approach is to cut fabric scraps into either 5 inch squares, 3 1/2 inch squares or 2 inch squares, and throwing away anything less than 2 inches. (There is a rationale behind the sizes and how they fit together.) The book then provides patterns using the squares or triangles made from the squares.







I like patterns that use long, narrow strips of fabric where corners don't need to be carefully matched. So I've decided to use some of her ideas, only with strips.

The author (Joan Ford) suggests sorting the squares, not only by size but also by color density: darks, lights, and everything else. Fabric contrasts create sharp patterns.





If the scraps are presorted into darks and lights, an important step is already done.I can do that with my strips, too. At the moment they are a bit of a mess! Presorting colors that look good together is a useful step.

I'm looking forward to reading about creating quilt "themes" and color schemes.

But for now I'm simply cut up my fabric scraps - another step in my ongoing goal of organizing my stuff.