Weekend Review: Making Scrap Quilts To Use it Up

Making Scrap Quilts to Use It Up! / Lynne Edwards
Newton Abbot, Devon: David & Charles, c2003
128 p.

One of the ways to sew more sustainably is to make sure you're using as much of your fabric as possible, and wasting very little of it. Making quilts has always been a traditional way of doing this. However, I'm not really a quilter, well, not a traditional one anyhow. So I don't end up using a lot of my scraps in this way. 

But, I recently saw a book review on PatternReview for this book, Making Scrap Quilts to Use It Up by Lynne Edwards. The reviewer mentioned that along with quilts this book includes two other small projects, in particular, a bag that she was interested in.

It sounded so intriguing that I quickly requested this book on Interlibrary Loan and have had a chance to read through it over the last week or so. It is a good collection, with a variety of quilts (16 patterns) using small pieces, arranged either randomly or in set quilt patterns that give great visual effects. There are good photos and clear diagrams and instructions for the projects as well. 

One of my favourite kind of quilts is the random scrap style, and the first one in this book is a massive postage stamp quilt -- all made of 1.5" squares. It's really appealing, the kind of scrap celebration I love. There is also a quillow pattern, I recall making a bunch of these for Christmas gifts many years ago! 

But as I am mainly a garment sewist, I have to agree with the original reviewer that the highlight of this book is the very unusual bag pattern. It's a pleated bucket bag style, with an interior drawstring closure. I haven't seen a style like this before, and there are examples both in solid fabric and in patchworked fabrics. I don't make many bags but this is such an interesting design that I'm eager to give it a try. 

This book is out of print as far as I can tell, so you'll have to find it second hand or via your own local library if you are interested in investigating it as well.