It was so fun owning a quilt shop. Like most shop owners I got into it because I love fabric and every day the UPS man would deliver boxes and boxes of beautiful fabric. In all those years I think we only ordered about 5 ugly bolts which meant I did some serious stash enhancement! I still really like buying fabric but my newer purchases don’t play very well with the older stuff so I’ve been making a concentrated effort to turn over my inventory a little quicker.
Recently I pulled 40 yards of older fabric off the shelves. I used a variety of colors and prints but they all look pretty good together. I also grabbed a few yards of background fabrics that would coordinate with the prints.
Then I put a new blade in my rotary cutter and cut all 40 yards into 2-1/2” strips. I ended up with 15 sets of 40 strips each. Each bundle of strips is similar but not identical because not every fabric was a yard long so I just added in additional fabrics until I got enough for 15 sets.
With all the available books and patterns for jelly rolls I should have no problem coming up with enough ideas for these strips. After I add additional fabrics for backgrounds, borders, backings and bindings it should a fair amount of stash but there’s plenty more where that came from! I selected patterns for the first five quilts I’ll make with these fabrics and have done some cutting and and a little piecing for them.
Stay tuned to see some great scrappy quilts! Maybe you’ll be inspired to start your own stash reduction project.
This is a great idea for pieces that are large, and I really look forward to seeing your scrap quilts. Scrap quilts make my heart sing!
I have some really ugly fabric and the smnaller you cut it the better it looks in scrap quilts. Your idea is great. More should take your lead and use up the old stuff.
I really look forward to seeing your new quilts! Hugs,