Craft ideas for plain scrap fabric

December 23, 2011 5:35 PM

Looking for uses for small scraps of plain (not particularly pretty) fabric.

I have access to scraps of fabric from a clothing manufacturing plant. Small scraps, anywhere up to a foot long by a few inches.

It's all pretty plain looking, solid colours, so a lot of the crafts I found online might not be so attractive in solid colours. This, for example, is an awesome idea and the sort of thing I like, but solid colours? Meh.

I have access to a sewing machine and some sewing notions, but I am not interested in quilting. I can probably hand stitch, just don't want to make a quilt.

I'd potentially be interested in some kind of layering thing (what I originally thought of) where I made some sort of scene or pattern with the different colours of fabric, but that's about as far as my idea got.

Any ideas or suggestions are welcome!

posted by sarae to sports, hobbies, & recreation (16 answers total)

You could make kids' purses/backpacks. I used to save old clothes to do this, and they can look cool if you get the pattern right. I just kind of winged it, but if you have any girls you'd like to do this for (the pre-teen to early teen age is a good area) check what style they like.
posted by DoubleLune at 5:44 PM on December 23, 2011

I make rice bags with my remnants.
posted by _paegan_ at 5:47 PM on December 23, 2011

Very seasonal, but I saw a _ton_ of these Christmas trees at the craft fairs this year, and not just in holiday colors. It seemed to me that beige and cream and other neutrals were the colors of the year. From what I could tell, it was fabric strips rolled and then glued onto styrofoam forms.
posted by librarianamy at 6:00 PM on December 23, 2011

Kanzashi flowers or fabric eggs are cute in pretty much any fabric.
posted by geek anachronism at 6:02 PM on December 23, 2011

anywhere up to a foot long by a few inches.
It seems like long strips would lend themselves to being braided together in interesting color combinations. From there, you could fashion them into rugs, baskets, or even knotted dog bones.
posted by DrGail at 6:14 PM on December 23, 2011

Here's my "Scrap Happy" Pinterest board where I collect projects that use up random bits of fabric.
posted by belladonna at 6:26 PM on December 23, 2011 [2 favorites]

Doll clothes, upholstery or carpeting for doll houses.

Thumb drive purses/cases

Ear bud cases
posted by SuperSquirrel at 8:00 PM on December 23, 2011

Have you got any little girls to make things for? I want to make skirts like this for my girls.
posted by Abbril at 8:46 PM on December 23, 2011

A friend gave us a stuffed tapeworm (actually a long, narrow fabric "snake" that happened to use pink fabric). One of the cats adopted it and carried it around the house for a few days.

Really, my first thought was "cat toys", but if you can make poly-filed snakes or worms, they are so fun to watch being carried around. Cats like to chase snakey toys anyway, and something like that can be left lying around, unlike string or yarn (which the cats can eat, necessitating a trip to the cat emergency room, etc.)

Ours was about 18" long and maybe 3/4" in diameter. It used to have googly eyes glued on, but I don't really recommend those.
posted by amtho at 12:56 AM on December 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

Also: headbands. You can sew beads or something on if you want.
posted by amtho at 12:57 AM on December 24, 2011

Cooky handkerchiefs?
posted by oceanjesse at 1:29 AM on December 24, 2011

Fabric roses are easy, great for solid fabric scraps and can be of any color. Use some to decorate a plain pillow /anything!
posted by mightshould at 5:14 AM on December 24, 2011

(ms. Veg)
The craft show "she's crafty" used fabric scraps in one episode to make picture frames.
posted by a robot made out of meat at 6:38 AM on December 24, 2011

You could cut them into squares and make biscornu, which are eight sided pincushions. All the pictures show some fabric with a needlepoint design, but I think if you put four different solids together into a larger square, you'd get an interesting design.
posted by soelo at 6:53 AM on December 24, 2011

Ribbon pinecone Christmas ornaments would be perfect, you can do some really fun stuff with patterning with the solid colors, and they're not too involved or labor-intensive.
posted by ella wren at 7:51 AM on December 24, 2011

Thanks for the suggestions! I made a snake for the cats. This guy has the snake attack his foot before he attacks it.

More suggestions are welcome :)
posted by sarae at 10:44 AM on December 28, 2011 [1 favorite]