How to Use Your Stash in Any Quilt Pattern
In January I wrote about how to set up your fabric stash so it worked for you. Well this month I want to talk about how you can actually use your stash in any type of quilt pattern, making it scrappy (even if it doesn’t have the instructions for a scrappy version). The first step should be to read the pattern you want to use all the way through. I know what you’re thinking, everyone says that but you don’t really have to do it, however, when you are looking to adapt a pattern it is important to read it all the way through so you can see what construction methods are used, what pieces go where, how you can make small changes to make it work better and much more. From there it largely depends on the type of pattern and the different slight adjustments you can make, which I am going to cover below.
1. Patterns that use a large number of fabrics:
When a pattern uses a large number of fabrics, calling for fat quarters and/or fat eighths, you may not have to make many adjustments. The first thing you want to do is see what the largest piece is that needs to be cut from each fabric and make sure that your scrap can accommodate that piece. From that point you may be able to follow the cutting instructions as written, or you might have to shift the layout of some of your pieces a little bit to make sure your scraps can accommodate them. This is probably the easiest way to adapt a pattern for using parts of your stash.
2. Patterns that use just two fabrics or colors:
If you look around you will be surprised by the number of patterns that call for just two fabrics, or two colors. This gives a great advantage when it comes to making scrap quilts. You will have to leave one color/fabric as your solid/background while your other “color” can be cut from all different fabrics/scraps. This is where reading through the directions will really help because it will allow you to see how the blocks are constructed, and what pieces you need to cut from each stash fabric to achieve the look you want. Using a coloring sheet can really help you to visualize how the different changes will look.
3. Patterns with a small number of fabrics:
Another type of pattern you will find if you look around is patterns that use a small number of fabrics/colors. In this case I would say a small number is best for 6 or less fabrics. Here you can work by using groups of fabrics in each color to create your quilt. For example, if your quilt uses 5 fabrics you might say the main colors are red, yellow, blue, green, and purple. To work out of your stash you could cut all of your red pieces out of a wide range of red fabrics, not just one, and so one for the rest of the colors. This doesn’t work well with fabrics that have a lot of colors or that lean too closely to two of the colors you are using (think periwinkle if you are using blue and purple). Again using a coloring sheet can work really well to help you plan out your project.
4. Patterns that use large blocks of fabric:
Another option for using up your stash and scraps in a quilt is to flip the negative and positive space. We tend to think of the negative space as the large empty background and to go with a solid (or something that reads as a solid) for these areas. However you can always piece together scraps for these areas while using a simple solid or two for the foreground elements. This is great if you want a project that you can work on over time, since you can slowly build up your background squares as you have scraps become available from different projects.
5. General Changes for any pattern:
There are also some general changes you can make to any pattern to use up scraps and parts of your stash. For example, a lot of patterns write instructions for four at a time flying geese (to save time and fabric), but sometimes you don’t have large enough scraps to do that, so making individual flying geese can work just as well. This goes for any other construction method. You can always change the method of construction to better accommodate the size scraps you have. This is part of the reason that I strongly recommend reading a pattern all the way through before starting so you can see if these little changes will help.
Hopefully this has provided you with some useful ideas on how you can adapt different patterns. For my patterns, I can tell you that Modern Wedding Ring already has instructions for a scrappy version. Color Storm, Jelly Roll Squared and Rainbow all use a large number of fabrics and can be adapted using Method 1. Mosaic Maze and Final Frontier are both two fabric patterns and can be adapted using Method 2. My remaining patterns can all be adjusted using Method 3, but I also think Method 4 could work for Trellis, if you constructed scrappy square center blocks for the pattern. I would love to see how you use your stash/scraps in any of my patterns or use these methods on other patterns. Please tag me (@createdesignmake365) on Instagram so I can check them out!
Until next time, happy sewing,
Siobhan
