Way back when, nobody wasted anything. My great-grandma would save the smallest of leftovers because “You never know when you’re going to need it.” Having grown up in the Great Depression era, she and her family were constantly saving whatever they could to get by. There could be three baby carrots left and she would put them in the fridge to use for tomorrow’s meal. With fabric, I’m the same way. I hate wasting something that I’m either so in love with that I will keep the smallest scraps around, or I paid a little extra for, so I want to squeeze out every penny I paid for and to save money while sewing.
I don’t know about you, but I have swatches of fabric from old projects that is enough to do something with, but I just don’t know what. They’re usually mismatched, and I just keep telling myself, “I’m saving it for something,” because I really like this fabric, but there’s also just not enough of it to make a big project. Well, why does it have to be a big project? There are easy sewing projects that require less than a yard of fabric, and for the very special swatches that are around a quarter of a yard, I know I have to make something special.
The point is, is that we all have that pile of extra fabric hiding in a corner somewhere. These DIY sewing projects are some helpful ways of getting rid of that pile and creating something useful with the stuff that has been accumulating all these years. You can make an easy tote to take with the beach with you, or the copycat Kate Spade bag to fool your friends with a designer bag. The possibilities are endless for what you would have thought were just scraps! Everything can be used again and finished off. So stop throwing your money away and start making these simple sewing projects with less than a yard of fabric.
10 Easy DIY Sewing Projects
Printable Baby Sewing Patterns
Passport/Wallet Sewing Project
What do you do with your scraps of fabric?
- Designer Showdown: Kate Spade and Vera Bradley - August 14, 2022
- 41 Swinging ’60s Sewing Patterns - August 12, 2022
- Fashion by the Decade: 53 Vintage Sewing Patterns - August 10, 2022
