Top 10 Things to Make with Fabric Scraps

AKA: How to keep fabric scraps out of the landfill and upcycle fabric scraps.

I love to sew stuff for me, my family, my friends, and my customers!  That’s probably obvious.  The only bummer of this is that there are almost ALWAYS little scraps and bits leftover from pretty much everything I make.  I try my best to design pieces that minimize this, but some of it is inevitable.  So I’ve been doing some poking around on the interwebs and testing out different ideas to keep these scraps out of the waste stream.  Here is my list of my 10 favorite ways to upcycle fabric scraps.  

1. Pin Cushion
   1. This is just the cutest little pin cushion you ever did see.  A square pin cushion is perfect for using up small squares of fabric (or corners if you do any boxed corners on bags like I do).  I’ve stuffed it with tiny fabric and thread scraps!  No poly-fill necessary!

      

2. Napkin Rings
   1. We use cloth napkins in our house, so it’s lovely to have each one marked whose-is-whose.  Each napkin ring is in a different fabric, so we never get them mixed up!  Confession: we use our napkins a few times until they need a wash.

      

3. Cord keeper 
   1. I was getting so tired of constantly having to untangle my headphones.  Ugh.  I finally took a minute (no, make that 3) to sew up this cord keeper with a snap closure.  Be gone, tangles!

      

       

4. Fabric twine.
   1. This stuff just looks so pretty.  I used it to wrap Christmas presents this year.  Twine is a great way to use up long, thin strips of fabric, like selvage edges.  The pieces don’t need to be the same thickness or length, and you can keep adding in more pieces as you go!

      

5. Woven Potholder
   1. This is a great craft for a little one.  I made this little guy on my daughter’s loom, and now she’s made one too.  If you don’t have a loom, they are SUPER easy to make – you can do it out of cardboard!  I weaved my long skinny pieces (like a selvage edge or other strips) and just overlapped them a couple of inches, rather than sewing them together.  You could also knot them together.  Lots of options.  If you want to go bigger, make a placemat!

      

      

6. Braided bracelet
   1. Also perfect for long thin strips.  I made a bunch of these for my kiddos and also gave them out to kids at the farmer’s market.  Super easy – another great craft for little ones.  
7. Patches for clothes
   1. I turned an old stained skirt into hearts for my daughter’s leggings.  Super fun.  Super cute.  

      

8. Coin purse
   1. This is great for rectangles of fabric.  I modeled them after my snack bags, only much tinier and not always lined.  So fun.
9. Quilted napkins
   1. I love quilts, but let’s be honest – I ain’t got time to make a whole dang quilt.  That’s where quilted napkins come in!  These are perfect for any shaped scrap.  I’ve used squares to make a simple 4-square napkin design.  But it works great for rectangles or triangles or strips!  The world is your oyster with this one!
10. Pom poms!
    1. Yes, the world needs more pom poms.  Especially upcycled, handmade, biodegradable ones.  I made these tiny ones by wrapping long thing strips around a fork.  You could use super thin scraps for these.  Aren’t they adorable??  

Those are my favorite 10 things to do with scraps right now.  Do you work with fabric scraps?  Do tell!  Would you like to learn more about how to make any of these?  I’d love to hear that too!

Thanks for reading,

Liz