Easy Project Ideas for Fabric Scraps

I'm sure you have something very similar to this in your sewing room. It's a scrap bin. And I'm sure you actually have a much bigger scrap bin or maybe several and some tubs and some garbage bags full. So I'm gonna show you some creative ways to use up some of these scraps and hopefully inspire you to make something really cute. One great idea for scrap fabric is fabric jewelry. And if you happen to have some leftover bias binding hanging around, this is a really great use for it. So I have a piece here leftover from some place mats that I was doing and I'm gonna make it into a cute little bracelet to go along with this necklace. Same techniques here. We're just shortening this length to make it into a cute gathered bracelet. So what you wanna start with is some elastic and size it around the area you're gonna wear it. Making sure that it's snug but still comfortable and making sure that you can still, of course, get it over your hand or your head, if it's a necklace. And after you've cut your elastic piece, double it and that's what you wanna cut your binding to. So here we have our binding piece, all cut and ready to go. And one short end, you wanna fold to the right side about a half inch, quarter inch. Something like that. You can eyeball it. Just to give yourself a nice clean edge here and give it a good shot of steam. Press it and make sure to set that crease so that it doesn't come out when we're turning the tube right side out. So to create your tube, fold your binding in half lengthwise with right sides together along the entire length. And we're gonna sew this long edge, and we're also gonna sew the short edge, and that is just gonna help us turn the tube right side out, 'cause, let's face it, we're gonna need all the help we can get with a little tube like this. So here we have our tube sewn. You can see the folded end right here. And you can see our stitched end right here. And we're gonna turn it right side out. And my little trick is to use a knitting needle. You know, a size that's gonna fit in your tube, of course, and with a nice blunt end here that's not gonna pierce through the fabric when we're turning it right side out. So just get it started. That's the hardest part. And gently slide your needle or your tube-turning tool until that side comes out. And it's as easy as that. So now we're gonna clip off this little end, Make sure you're not clipping off the fold. And it's ready for our elastic. So I have one here, make sure that your folded end is still nice and folded. And to help our elastic fit through this hole, I've attached to safety pin to the end of it. Same thing you would do if you lost the casing in a pair of pants or, you know, a sweatshirt hoodie, and just guide it through that hole. And keep going until that folded end is aligned with your elastic. We're almost there. Now grab this as one unit and pin it because you don't wanna lose your elastic Once that's secure, keep going and gather the tube around your elastic piece. When we reach the end, undo your safety pin and carefully take your pin out. Reach for that elastic. Make sure it's not twisted. Take this to your sewing machine and do a couple of zigzags right across that end to make sure it's secure. And once it is, you can stick the raw end into the folded end. So it's nice and finished and just whip stitch that closed with a little hand sewing thread and needle. And you're good to go. Matching little bracelet to go with our necklace. Easy as pie. Fabric flowers are also a really great scrap buster project. And to make this one, you can use leftover bias if you happen to have it, or you can create your own bias strip. I'm just cutting a two-and-a-half-inch strip here, but you can really use whatever you have on hand. And I have pinked the edges and there's a couple of different options for this. You can, of course, use a pinking shears and just mark this with a removable fabric marker and use your pinking shears to cut out your bias strip. Or you can use a handy-dandy pinking blade on your rotary cutter or this fun scallop one that I happen to like. So make sure your fingers are outta the way and just give it a rip and pull your fabric away. Might need to clip a little of these just to make sure. Apparently my rotary blade wasn't as sharp as it should have been. But here I've got a strip already cut. As you can see, it has this nice wavy edge along this side and what you wanna do is so a gathering stitch along the side opposite your decorative edge. And once you have that complete, just start pulling your threads to gather the strip into a cute little flower shape. And it just happens automatically. Pull your bobbin thread and then wind it around and you can tuck that raw end underneath. And you have a little fabric flower. And what I've done is just hand sewed a button to conceal these raw ends. And you can do anything that you like with this. You can hot glue it to a bobby pin and wear it in your hair you can hot glue a little broach pin to the back of it or hand sew it, of course. And then you've got some more fabric jewelry. And another really cute fabric flower is made out of knit. And you're probably seeing these in the department stores. T-shirts with clusters of knit flowers along the top, or maybe down the V of a shirt. Super cute and very, very easy. So what I've done is, this is a scrap of a t-shirt that I cut off from the bottom of a super long t-shirt. And you can make yourself your own flower template and just cut out a small flower and one that's a little bit larger. And you have your cut pieces here. As you can see, I've got a small and a little bit larger one. And you need a little round bead that looks something like this. Sometimes they come in the wooden variety. You might even have one on hand that you can use. Center it in your large knit flower and sandwich it with a smaller one over top and kinda grab it so that your bead pokes through like that. And you can use hand-sewing needle. It doesn't even matter if the thread matches and just stitch around it. And wrap it around the bead, tie it off. And you have a cute little fabric flower just like that. And what I like is these little edges curling up and it gives it a lotta dimension and you could make, you know, eight or 10 of these and decorate a shirt with it. Or a hoodie sweatshirt would be really cute. But if you're not really into these little curving edges you can use some fabric stiffener and just spray it on there. Follow the manufacturer's directions and it'll harden up for you and make it a lot easier to place on your knit shirt. So that's another really cute fabric flower variety. And let's not discount yo-yos here. They're really coming back and yo-yos, you know, everyone knows how to sew a yo-yo right? You start with your fabric circle. Cut it to any size that you like and sew a gathering stitch around the circle edge and just like we did before, gather your bobbin thread and manipulate it here so that the right side is kind of poofing outward. And just keep going along the entire length here. And you end up with this really cute yo-yo. And I just knot the thread ends when I'm done and clip them off. And you can show this side off if you like. You can show this side off if you like. You can do the same thing and cluster a few and put it on a bobby pin or maybe make a headband out of a bunch sewn together. The possibilities are endless with yo-yos. Once you've mastered the yo-yo technique, a really cute idea is to make a bunch of yo-yos in all different sizes and you can use coordinating fabric or you can use fabric that doesn't even match. You know the crazier, the better with this. And you just arrange them and tack them together in various places until you create the shape of a giant coverlet. And wouldn't this be cute over a bed with a big fluffy white duvet. Just dressing it up a little bit and it's perfect for any season and any fabric that you have on hand. So I hope that you're really inspired to create a bunch of fun fabric jewelry and flowers and really get your scrap in under control.