Stamping Scraps

Since I began sewing, I have always been compelled to make use of every scrap of fabric -  even the tiniest of pieces. I have heaps of those tiny scraps.   I keep most of them in a basket near my sewing machine and I'll put them to some use as starters for my machine piecing. But there are only so many starters that I need and my basket is overflowing.

Now let me tell you, I really enjoy hand piecing.   Machine piecing is okay but it's hand piecing that relaxes me and brings me joy;  and any tool I can find to that end, I will use.  The simpler the better.  I love Inklingo for that very reason.  It's simple and easy and I can print and get to the hand piecing part quickly.

But there are some scraps that are so tiny, Inklingo won't do.  So I've been struggling with how to use these tiny scraps, overflowing in my scrap basket, in hand piecing.

tiny scrap of fabric

You can see this piece on the left is about an inch wide.   One day in my sewing group at the local quilt shop a quilt companion showed me her rubber stamp templates that she was using to stamp out hexagons on her fabric.  Well at the time it looked cumbersome.  In the time it took her to stamp and cut her hexagons, I could have made many more with Inklingo. Inklingo is quicker and easier. 

Then as my mind meandered through the days and weeks, one day I looked at all the scraps overflowing in my starter basket thinking I'd really have to throw them out and then it dawned on me.  I could make use of those tiny scraps. I didn't have to throw them out (which pained me).  If I could find a rubber template square that stamped an inch or less, I could make fabric squares from those tiny pieces!   I looked everywhere on the internet and found very little...maybe one or two places. The first stamp I purchased was 3/4" square finished.

I stamped and cut and stamped and cut and started to hand piece the tiny squares.

6 " block

A number of 6" blocks made from throw away scraps

Now, every time I have an itty bitty piece, I'll stamp it and use it in a block and eventually this will be a quilt.

I know this isn't for everyone.  From what I can tell most quilters don't care to hand piece but if you are one of those rare quilters who loves the process of hand piecing and if you are also one of those people who hate to waste even the tiniest piece of fabric, stamping might be a perfect solution.

Bye for now