How to Organize Fabric Scraps

Do your scraps pile up like mine do? The left over bits aren't big enough to fold back into the rest of your fabric, but not small enough to want to dispose of (plus you paid good money for those beauties right?). But then, you need a smaller piece for pocket or a random part on a stuffed animal or a bag, but where is it? 

There are many ways to handle the scrap dilemma. I don't have a ton of space, so this is my current solution to the scrap problem.

1. The first thing is to cut all the scraggly ends that are basically unusable to cut pattern pieces out of.

Put all these non-functional scraps into one spot. You can save these to stuff dog beds or stuff animals if you wish (or if you have another idea of what to use these tiny scraps for, let me know in the comments!).

2. Next sort each larger functional scrap into piles based on first woven or knit, and then by color depending on how many you have. I don't sew with wovens very often, so those aren't sorted by color. I put each pile into its own storage ziplock bag. Below from left to right I have lights, mediums, darks, and wovens.

You might be thinking,  "HEY, nobody said we would have to do laundry on this post!" Don't worry, no washing after this, and that's about it.


3. Put the bags away for later! I plopped mine into a cardboard box and found a place for that in my sewing closet. Yay, no more sorting through a huge pile of random scraps.

 Now, you may have a lot more scraps than I do. That's okay, you can divide them into more bags or each type of scrap can have it's own box, or you can find another organization system that works for you and your space. The idea here is to get organized to save you time and frustration! Need a white pocket, you know where to look. Need a black scrap for a raglan front triangle, you will be able to find it in a jif! You get the idea.

If you have any questions or comments please leave them below. 

Happy Organizing!