Fabric Bits & Pieces

This post is a part of the Stash Stories, a series about fabric, creativity, and the stories behind what we save. Each post explores a piece of my fabric stash- where it came from, why it matters, and what it’s teaching me about making, memory, and possibility. 

Part of any fabric stash is made up of what’s left behind. With every sewing project, there are bits of fabric here and dashes of fabric there—some large enough to repurpose meaningfully, others little snippets that quietly hold the memory of past work.

People who sew tend to have their own rules about what to keep and what to discard. Larger leftover pieces are easy. They get rewrapped, folded, and stacked back onto the shelf with the rest of the fabric stash. It may take months or even years to return to them, but being able to see those pieces increases the chances they’ll find their way into a future project.

Smaller pieces—fabric scraps and snippets—often end up in a bin, mixed together and waiting for consideration in creating smaller projects. For pieces that fall somewhere in between—larger than scraps but smaller than about half a yard—I’ve developed a system that works well for me. I cut them into 2½-inch squares.

I spent a good deal of time learning how to perfect sewing squares, with corners meeting just so. It’s harder than it looks. I’ve watched videos, asked friends for advice, and practiced over and over again. As with any sewing skill, practice really is the key. Over time, my accuracy has improved, and those squares now come in handy for a variety of quilting and sewing projects. Having a ready-made stash of them is both practical and satisfying.

The challenge with fabric bits and pieces is that they multiply. The more you sew, the more you have, the more space they take up—and the harder it can be to find a purpose for every single one.

How do you sort and store your fabric scraps? What rules guide what you keep and what you let go?

Stash Stories is an ongoing series about fabric, creativity, and the stories behind what we save. Each post explores a piece of my fabric stash—where it came from, why it matters, and what it’s teaching me about making and memory.→ Read all Stash Stories