The idea of taking something that is bound for the trash can, and making it into something beautiful and useful is profoundly appealing to me. So, to be able to take a growing mountain of scrap fabric and repurpose it into fun and quirky fabric blocks is a joyful pursuit.

The thing is, although it looks like a no-brainer, it is actually a little tricky to get right. Inevitably, one can end of with a few ‘uh-oh’ moments, and the dreaded raw edges. Ok. you can fiddle with them, and rip out stitches to coax them into place, but, that’s not really the way to go about this project. It’s certainly not very pleasant, and may become increasingly frustrating.

After watching several videos, I still hadn’t heard the right way to go about doing this. No one that I watched seem to address these issues with precise instructions. So, in my usual fashion, I tried, and tried again until I landed on a few techniques that work for me. I hope these will work for you too, and I’d be delighted to read any suggestions, comments, or tips that work for you.

• Start in the middle of the block and choose a small piece of fabric. Sew another similarly sized piece of fabric right sides together to the first one. Trim excess away to create even finished edges.

• Attach the next piece of fabric, and all subsequent pieces of fabric to the most obvious even edge you can see.

• Continue to work outwards adding strips of fabric that start at the outer edges of the block and extend inwards.

• Continue to trim the completed sewn seams such that the joined fabrics end in as even edges as possible.

• Trim darker fabrics away from the seams where lighter fabrics are being added. You don’t want the darker fabrics showing through the lighter fabrics.

In addition to the Quilted Heart charms I have made recently, (see our shop section,) I am turning these new scrappy fabric blocks into a few different items. One of which will capital letters that a young person may hang on their bedroom doorknob, or a backpack, or where ever they fancy. The options are endless when it comes to repurposing scrap fabric.

What do you like to do with your scrap fabric?