Scrappy Christmas Idea…
October 29, 2021
Hi!
I’ve got Christmas on my mind well and truly now, and I couldn’t go past a pile of scraps that I’d saved from a previous year. (I know – I should be sensible about what to keep and what to discard, but it was a strip of pretty fabrics already cut to an even 1 1/2 inches wide, and they seemed too useful to just throw away.) Besides, turns out I was right to keep them!
The scraps were left over from a different Christmas project, and when I trimmed it, I ended up with these 1 1/2 inch width pieces. I sewed them all together end to end, rolled them up and put them away for ‘safekeeping’ (!)
I decided it was time to pull them out this year and see what I could make with them, and really this is just an idea of one way to use up some scraps. As mine were strips, I cut them to a length of about 17 inches long, and I managed to get 19 rows from the length I had.
The goal here was really to turn the strips into a piece of usable fabric, so I chain pieced them into pairs…
Like so.
And then I joined the pairs into one big scrappy panel.
I layered and pinned it for quilting, and as this was already pretty busy looking with all the different fabrics, I decided to just quilt in the ditch along the horizontal lines.
My finished panel. I decided it would be a really cute little throw pillow, but it was going to need some decoration still.
Again, do what you like, but I found a handy star template, and traced that onto some fabric.
Using more leftovers, I put a scrap of lightweight batting behind, then free motion quilted the star outline and filled it in with rough pebbles.
One of the best templates I bought years ago was a set of circular templates. I have no idea where I got them (other than at the Houston Show), but they have been so handy over the years. If you want a circle, and don’t have a template, just grab a small plate and you’re good to go!
Yes, this is not perfect, but I cut roughly outside my marked circle (leaving a seam allowance), then folded and pressed my way around the circle, for a fairly neat finish.
I just pinned and topstitched this in place…
… and then folded the panel in half with right sides together, and sewed up the side, across the top and down the other side, leaving a 5-6 inch gap in the middle of that last side.
Trim the points off the corners too, as this gives neater corners when you turn it.
Turn it right sides out and poke out those corners!
Turns out, with my grandiose ideas of a pillow, I’d actually run out of hobbyfill stuffing. I figured then that it would be more in keeping with my plan to use up scraps anyway to do the same with leftover batting and stuff it with that instead.
It worked a treat! I would recommend you cut the batting into smaller pieces (mine were about 1-2 inches) and then scrunch them up with your hands so they get all nice and foldy, and make for a softer pillow than just hard-packed batting.
Fill as full as you like (making sure you poke it into the corners too), then simply tuck in the edges of your gap and hand or machine stitch closed.
Ta dah!!! One finished quick and easy Christmas pillow!
And because we’re finally getting some nice warm Spring weather here in Australia, the pillow, a book and I took a short break by the pool!
Hope you can use this idea, and find something fun to make with your scraps. For a bunch more patterns and ideas, check out our Quilter’s Christmas Advent Calendar too!
https://www.onlinequiltmagazine.com/christmas.html
Enjoy!
12 responses to “Scrappy Christmas Idea…”
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What a great idea. Great to use up left over fabrics.
What a great idea, thank U so much
Great Idea, Thanks Jody
Nice Idea, and turned out looking great!! I have a problem about not throwing out just about ANY scrap piece of fabric. I have bags and bags that I’d like to divide up by colors, but haven’t taken the time to do it yet. Some of these pieces are too small for anything except maybe tiny bits on FPP blocks, but I hate to throw them out. One of these days I may surprise you and post a picture of all my tiny pieces, sewn together into something grand!! 🙂
Very clever use of scraps!
I often use chopped up batting scraps for stuffing small projects. I also have a collection of left over fabric strips stored in bags of different widths. They often come in handy for scrappy quilts.
Great idea!!!! Very useful too
jolie idée pour utiliser le surplus de découpe !
Really cute project Jody! We’re all creating lots of scraps this time of year so nice to have an additional use for them!
Wow! I hadn’t thought of sewing my strips together before putting them away. This is a good idea and would really help me to use up my leftovers. Thank you so much for sharing.
Thanks for the great idea to use up leftover strips of fabric. I’ve got some too and didn’t know what to do with them
If the pieces had been 2.5″ wide, and joined together, they would make a fabulously colourful binding, too.
Val (UK)