What do you do with your fabric scraps?

I've been thinking about the age-old question of fabric scraps lately. There are so many clever and creative things people do with theirs – I've heard of using them to stuff cushions and pressing hams, to make gorgeous accessories like necklaces and brooches, to decorate household items and to create all sorts of patchwork!

In fact, if you're stuck for ideas a quick Google threw up this awesome Pinterest board, 25 Free Scrap-Busting DIY Tutorials and Sewing projects for fabric scraps.

These are all genius ideas, but what if like me you have a lot of scraps that are also quite sizeable? It would be a shame to cut them up and use as facings and whatnot, but you don't quite fancy making another garment from them.


Well, in the spirit of being thrifty I tried something new last week. I gathered up a few of my best, photographed them and stuck them on eBay. And guess what!?! They bloody sold and I'm totally planning on doing it again! It felt so good to get something back, as it often feels like all I do is spend and accumulate more than I can handle.

So, what do you do with your fabric scraps? Have you had any luck selling them or are you tempted to give it a go?

And just because I can't believe how fast it's growing, here's another update on my Sirdar Raglan Cardigan...


30 comments:

  1. Oh what a great idea Marie! Did you sell each piece separately or as a job lot? Very tempted to do the same. x

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    1. It's a nice little earner Jane, you can feel a bit better about all the spending or put it back into your hobby ;o) I sold the above as one job lot to save me time and effort. I will try and sell matching/complimentary ones in smaller batches too, but individually would be too much of a pain ;o)

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  2. Quilters often sell their scraps or bits they're bored with on their blog or twitter :-)

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    1. That's because quilters are clearly ahead of the game Sarah! ;o)

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  3. Thanks so much for those links! There are some fab ideas for reducing my bundle of scraps...!

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  4. Thanks for the useful links. I have such difficulty throwing out even the smallest scrap of nice fabric!

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  5. I say sell your fabric scraps!

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  6. Congrats, Marie! I admire you for keeping your stash-busting promise. You did a wise (not to mention brave) thing, selling your bigger pieces of scrap fabric. Genius.
    And now, I'll tell you what I do with my scrap fabric: I usually stash it. There, I said it.
    The links are great, by the way!

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    1. I normally stash it too, but it was such a relief to get rid of some! The funny thing is, I'll probably end up selling so much that I have nothing left ;o)

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  7. I was just about to toss my box of scraps because I'm tired of tripping over it. I'm definitely going to ebay instead!

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  8. Thanks for the links! I was thinking about my scraps just yesterday. Can I just say how beautiful your piles of scrap looked!?! You have some lovely scraps, no wonder they sold well!

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  9. Good going Marie, such a great idea. I've been collecting ideas for scraps as well, but will I ever do anything with them? That's the million dollar question isn't it! I knowi should do a mass eBay exercise, but get out off as it can be quite time consuming. Perhaps testing the water with just one is a good way to get started....

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    1. Start small/slowly and see how you get on Winnie. Try and group complementary scraps together, then you can sell them in bundles, which is a lot less hassle and not as time consuming.

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  10. I sell my scraps on ebay too, in bundles of similar prints or colours - so much better than taking up storage space, and they sell very well.

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  11. What a great idea! My scraps are getting a little crazy, so this is such a great idea! The sweater is looking amazing!!!!!

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    1. As I said in the post, it was good to get something back out of all my spending ;o)

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  12. That's a good idea! I never thought about actually selling my fabric scraps.

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  13. Great idea I use my scraps on quilts and other projects but loved your idea

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  14. Great idea to sell and one for the future! I've just used up a fabric scrap by lining a drawer for baby things and stapling it in to secure it. It looks gorgeous! Blog post to come methinks!

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    1. That sounds like such a great idea, I'll keep an eye out for your blog post!

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  15. Great idea, you are genious!!! Love our blog!
    www.impromp-two.blogspot.com

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    1. Thank you Olga, you have a lovely blog too!

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  16. What a lovely vest, or as they say in England, gillet , right? My fabric scraps are all stuffed willy nilly in a big plastic bin or stuffed into the bottom of my sewing closet.

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  17. What links are you all referring to for selling scraps. I know eBay and Etsy but is there more?
    Thanks

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    1. I've sold both on ebay and etsy successfully. Not sure if there are any others people sell on too though...sorry!

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  18. What a great suggestion, I love it! I'm curious, did you precut your fabric scraps to a certain size (fat quarter, etc.) or just list them to their existing size? Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Hi there, glad you like this idea! My scraps are mainly much smaller than fat quarters, so I just list them to their existing size. If I have a really large bundle of scraps then I list the largest and smallest size only, but making sure to mention that the rest are in between those two sizes. Hope this helps!

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