Scraps

It's January, do I'm on clean-up mode. Around the house, on my desk, and especially in my workroom. As I reach the bottom of the slippery slope to Christmas, tidying goes by the wayside, and eventually the floor is covered in an ankle-deep layer of scrap fabric.

The bigger pieces are out aside for folks, but the smaller bits always end up as pot holders. They're not much of a moneymaker at shows - $6 each or 3/$15 - but they alleviate the guilt I would feel at throwing all that viable fabric away.

Plus, I was given a dozen pair of mens jeans to cut up, and I always use denim for the backs.

What about you? What's happening in your creative spaces in the new year?

Scraps

As I start to excavate my workroom post-holiday, one of the first things I do is clean up the scraps that have fallen everywhere.  By the end of the season, it feels like I'm just throwing stuff over my shoulder to be dealt with in January.

The general rule of scrap is that sweater bits, if they're too small to use, get shredded up and used for stuffing.  The cotton scraps get saved for doll clothes, if they're big enough.  If they're not, they go into the potholder stash.  If there's enough fabric left that I can get a 3" square from it, then it's not trash yet.  After that, well, if it's 100% cotton, it goes into the compost.

Most of these will get put away for show season.  A few specific sets - cats and dogs, and a three pack of chickens - were intended for Etsy, but a friend already purchased the chickens.

I've been asked why I bother to make potholders.  They sell well during the holiday season, but aren't much of a moneymaker, since people generally don't want to pay much for something that they'll either burn or get filthy in the kitchen.  But they are a nice add-on purchase, and it alleviates my guilt that I don't use up every piece of cloth that enters my hands.

It's that time

The scrap bag was beginning to overflow.

When that happens, I either sort through it and throw things away, or I make potholders.

Generally, I make potholders.

First, because I don’t like to throw anything away if I can help it, and second, because it’s always nice to have a lower priced item on the table at craft shows. I can keep prices low on these because it really is nothing but my time involved. And yes, my time is worth something, but the materials in this case were all left over from other projects. That and an 8” square of batting doesn’t take much out of me.

These fabrics practically jumped out of the scrap bag together, even though their original projects had nothing to do with each other. As I pulled them and laid them out on the table, I could see a vintage theme coming together. Think Depression-era kitchen – feed sacks and dress goods, all the bits left over from the household quilts coming together as potholders.

 I’m calling this group Americana, because it reminds me of picnics and summer and the colors lurking behind vintage black-and-white photographs.

Playing with Color

I've been doing some restocking for my Etsy shop recently - it seems that you get found more frequently in Etsy's search function if you have 100 items or more in your shop.  I had hit the 100 mark before the holidays, but between online sales and craft shows I'd dipped into the 70s.  Not a bad problem to have!

The other day I made a few sets of potholders.  I like doing them after I've made some more complex pieces, and I'd just finished a set of bears (yet to have their final hand work done, however) because they go together quickly and clear my head.  Plus I had a big bag of scraps by the table from recent projects and a closet cleaning, so I decided to use them up.

The featured print in this series of potholders was from a man's shirt that I remade years ago into a smaller shirt to fit me.  And then my late 40s struck and things shifted around and the shirt never buttoned properly again.  I got tired of it taunting me in the closet and put it in the bag to be cut up, because I loved the print.

Interestingly enough, when it was a shirt, I thought of it as predominantly blue and white, with some warmer colors thrown in for contrast.  Which I think is what the shirt was, but as I was cutting it apart for these potholders, somehow the way I cut it seems to emphasize the reds and browns, with the blue of the sky and ocean seeming almost afterthoughts.  I combined it with a brown denim, solid red, solid pale blue and brown-and-black check (left over from a shirt I made my husband), and my summery blue-and-white shirt just disappeared.

It actually makes me feel better - I look at these, all earth-toned and retro, and I don't think of the shirt that I still miss.

I made two other series as well - hot pink, orange and lime green, with polka dots, and a denim and pink heart combination.  All potholders can be found here.

Using up scraps

Since I can never bring myself to throw anything away, I have a pretty large remnant collection.

Lately I have an even larger scrap collection.  I mentioned before that I was working on an early Christmas project with flannel, and all the bits and pieces of all those cut-up flannel shirts and pajamas have been taking over.

Potholders to the rescue!  I've done these before, but generally in cotton fabrics, which I've found to be a bit on the flimsy side unless I use more batting/padding.  These are all a combination of flannel and denim, with the exception of the red, white and blue set which feature some of my aunt's chicken print apron fabric.

Because how can I not use a chicken print?

Potholders available in the Etsy shop.