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Crazy Squares for scrap busting

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For anyone who’s interested, a set of pics to show how I do it. My first ever attempt at something resembling a tutorial!

I find that working on 6-10 at a time works for me, as I like a production line, you may prefer to complete one before moving on.

1. Cut pre-shrunk cotton backing into squares.  You can get very mathematical here, but I wouldn’t bother- the squares will end up slightly distorted and need to be trimmed anyway.  I suggest approx 6″ squares as a good size.DSCF7724

 

 

 

 

 

2.

DSCF7720
Green scrap bag, sorted and pressed

Sort out and press your fabric scraps. I go by colour, and try not to duplicate fabric used in any one square.; this means I use between 9 and 12 fabrics for each one.  This is personal preference, do your own thing!

 

 

3. Have the ironing board, pressing cloth and scissors set up at a good height to use while sitting.  This saves time!  If you have one of those brilliant little quilting irons, set it up by your machine.  I need the pressing cloth as I mix all sorts of fabrics, but I’m a slob and keep the iron set to fairly high steam.DSCF7728

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Cut out a piece of fabric to go in the middle.  I find that four or five sides works best. [Maths teacher head: quadrilaterals or pentagons!]DSCF7729

5. Choose your first contrast, find or make a straight edge, and match it right sides together to the longest edge of your centre piece.  Machine in place

**I don’t worry about colour of thread, and use up all my leftover bobbins for this, which makes me happy!  I also don’t always bother to back stitch.  This stuff isn’t going anywhere, trust me!**DSCF7726

If you are making loads at once, do step 5 onwards to all your squares, I sometimes even attach a piece of fabric to more than one square at once.  I’m a little devil I am!

6. Press back into position…DSCF7731[Don’t be tempted to miss out the pressing- I’ve seen tutorials where the ‘teacher’ just rushes on, and the end product is too much of a damn mess, even for my taste!]

7…and trim in line with the straight edges of the ‘centre’ piece.  [You might like to draw linesfor this if you’re a neat freak, I just hack.  All the edges end up hidden anyway, and you can cover a multitude of sins…] I sometimes cut the ‘outside edge’ parallel with the seam, sometimes at an angle.  For clarity, I’ve marked the cutting lines in purple on this one.

8.Moving clockwise [or not if you’re left handed] line up the next piece and repeat from step 5 onwards until the whole square is covered.  I sometimes end up with a corner piece that looks too big, and add a triangle  or some such to taste.

DSCF7738
It doesn’t matter if there are tiny gaps at the edges, that will vanish into seam allowances when you use the squares

9. Zig zag round edges.  Press from wrong side.  If it makes you happy, trim off all the thread ends from the back, but it’s not needed.DSCF7725

10. Stash them until you want to make something- quilts, cushion covers, bags, etc etc.

 

Previous pretties…
..mixing all sorts of fabrics…
…but keeping to colour themes.
Lap quilt for my parents
a burgundy set for youngest daughter
the back of this had batman fabric on…
pink and girly for doc-daughter

Hope that’s of some help to anyone who wants to have a bash at this, and isn’t too boringly obvious!

PS I measured up and found I’d made more than 51m of bias binding.  Oh My!

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Over 51m of bias binding, woohoo!
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22 thoughts on “Crazy Squares for scrap busting”

  3. Actually these are really very nice. I wouldn’t have thought of quilting in this way (on a backing piece) but it must be alot easier than the hand stitched hexagonals I once had “fun” with. The colours look great together. Also a very good tutorial. Thank you. As for 50m of green bias binding, well – who knows what the heck you will do with that. (I add this thought to the one about Dawn counting tins of tuna).

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    1. Cackle! I don’t count this as quilting, I really and truly hate that, but true patchwork in the spirit of the original: making something from nothing. This appeals to my miserly side. I may or may not use the binding, but I could gift it to sewing pals? Anyway, think how many metres it takes to do full Hong Kong finish on a jacket… And as for Dawn’s tin-ventory, it’s a very housewifely thing to do!

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  4. This is perfect for me!! I have mountains of scraps, and I was certain those squares needed to be measured and calculated and what not. Just too much hassle, and life wasted on fabric bits that are not for wearing. But now we’re talking 😀 Thank you for sharing this important life skill!

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  5. Brilliant tutorial, thanks for sharing it. I only have 4 different fabrics of my Christmas fabric and am thinking now that maybe I should cut a backing piece bigger and go it on a slightly bigger scale for my table runner. I wish I had your scrap collection! 😀

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  9. This is a fabulous idea to use up scraps. I have seen a similar tutorial but it was a “quilt as you go one” I have SO much scrap fabric that I can definitely see some of these in my life sooner rather than later. Xx

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  10. Pingback: #SundaySevens week 66 (me 41) | T H I M B E R L I N A

  11. This is a great tutorial – thank you. I have heaps of scraps too, and this looks like a really fun way to use them up. I have just started a quilt as you go bag for my mum’s xmas pressie which is the first time I have tried this technique and it has gone really well – but is very uniform rectangles, I like the crazy – devil-may-care – ness of just cutting out any old shape and bunging it on. Much more fun! Will keep this in mind, thanks!

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  12. Hello, I’ve only just found you – through that most unique authoress of Pretty Grievances 🙂
    Anyway, I’m glad I did, not least for this tutorial. Thank you. Your scrap squares are surprisingly effective. Looking forward to discovering more,
    Baci
    Sally xx

    sarsaparillasal.blogspot.com

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