Time for some New Year's tidying-up.  The other day, when I worked on putting away fabric stacks and other random bits, I came upon that bowl of 1/2" fabric confetti I had abandoned.  Using them is now or never, right?  Well maybe not never, but you know what happens when you put things away in ziplock bags... 

Pouf!  Out of sight and out of mind.

Kirsty of Bonjour Quilts suggested I make notecards with my confetti scraps.  How perfect for these itsy fabric crumbs! 

Have you ever made fabric scrap notecards?  You should.  It's so easy!  Just buy some blank cards and envelopes, glue on your scraps to hold them in place and then sew them right to the card.  Think of the thread as another layer of embellishment!  Sew around shapes or through the center of small shapes, to hold them down.  No seam allowances necessary.  

Sewing through paper is no trouble for your sewing machine.  It will dull your needle, but that's all.  This time I used 12 wt Aurifil thread for chunky, noticeable stitches.  It's almost like embroidery floss for your sewing machine.  Regular thread works too.

My first few cards had flower themes.  Sometimes I sketched stems with pencil to get an idea of placement.  Other times, I just went for it.  Regular stick glue will hold fabrics in place while you sew.  The scrap squares I used for these flowers had fusible on the wrong side, which I had already applied when making the originally-planned quilt block.  I fused the flowers to the card with a dry iron, then added the stitching for a decorative effect.

Sponsor of the Week

The Confident Stitch

Enjoy 10% off through this Sunday on newly arrived Australian Aboriginal Designs!  These original designs are created and licensed to individual Aboriginal artists through M&S Textiles Australia.  You can read about each artist and his/her inspiration in the product description at The Confident Stitch. 

Fantastic!

After the flowers I still had a whole lot of squares left, so I came up with this design to use them up faster.  It turned out to be my favorite!  I love the simple zigzag stitching over the squares.  It gives them such a fun energy.  The colors, shapes and texture - I just love them!  So glad I didn't stash the fabric bits away to get used "someday."  This is so much better.  Thanks, Kirsty!

Even if you're new to sewing and have hardly any scraps, fabric scrap cards are a totally doable project.  Here are some other cards I've made in the past, in case you should need some more inspiration.  Have fun!