Scrappy Sewing Fun

I've been at it again, engaging in some scrappy sewing fun, one of my all time favourite pastimes. I just love using up small fabric scraps and reducing the amount of offcuts in my scrap basket.

Last week, I decided to create another scrappy project bag. I'd been watching videos on YouTube about making fabric from scraps and it just inspired me to get the scrap basket out again and see what I could come up with.

I find it good fun to piece together lots of different scraps, take a photo of the layout and then sew all the bits together to make a bigger piece of fabric.  On this occasion, I went with a different colour scheme from the usual dark coloured fabrics, I decided to use paler fabrics ranging from white through beige, a few pale greens to browns and rust colours. I had lots of vintage scraps amongst these colours that I love, but just couldn't really think of anything I wanted to do with them, so this project was ideal.  

Here's a picture of the scraps laid out:

At this stage, it never really looks like anything special, but once you start sewing the pieces together, it always starts to look a lot better. I did make a few changes as I sewed it together, but nothing too noticeable.

I picked a cotton sateen fabric to line the project bag. I think I bought it for a few cents in an Op Shop in Australia over 10 years ago when visiting my sister and just hadn't found a use for it. It's not something I would really use for anything else, so I was glad to use some of it for this project and the colours matched perfectly with some of the fabrics used.

This is the finished bag and I love it. The top can either be folded over to close or rolled back exposing the lining, to make a kind of fabric basket. I may add a fastening of some kind to it. I think I'm going to use it to keep my dressmaking in when I start a new course next month. It will nicely keep everything I need all together in one place, so it will be easy to pick up and head to class with.

The second scrappy project I've been working on this last week, has been some scrappy rolls or strips, using adding machine roll to hold them all together. In doing this project, I was able to use up some of the smallest scraps in my basket by sewing them together until they were long enough to cover the width of the paper tape.

The only rules I followed in doing this was not to use the same fabric twice in any strip. I also did try to move seamlessly from one colour to another, but this isn't necessary. I was reasonably happy with the first couple of strips I made. Here's a picture:

I decided to use them to make a cushion cover for the shed. I combined them with some scrap offcuts of black linen, leftover from making the shed sofa cover, which made the multi-coloured strips stand out. 

I didn't have enough of this black fabric to make the backs of the cushions and I don't have many plain fabrics, but I did have a mustard coloured plain fabric, which did tie in with some of the scraps in the strips, so I used this and made an envelope closure on the back of the cushion cover.  Here's the completed cushion cover:

 

I'm quite happy with the outcome. It's not perfect, as always, but it is colourful, has helped me to use up lots of scraps which is always very satisfying and isn't bad for a first attempt at this technique. I may make another one at some point, as I think I just about have enough black linen and mustard fabric, but that will be a job for another day.

Finally, I made a small gift for OH's sister, namely these fabric jar openers. I've made them in the past, use them myself and find them invaluable. Is it me or do jars seem more tightly screwed on these days? Maybe it's that I'm aging and find it harder to open them. OH does too. I think I originally got the idea from Pinterest.

Anyway, OH's sister must have used some that I gave to his mum and mentioned to me when we were on holiday in Tenerife, that she could do with some herself, so I made her a pair using some offcuts of fabric. I find using a pair is better, one to grip the lid and one to grip the bottom of the jar.

 I hope she likes them.