Making Fabric From Scraps

I've been playing around with scraps - giving myself a challenge of finding different creative ways of using them, and here's my top tips for making a quilted fabric from small scraps.

Cut out a bit of medium - lightweight fusible interfacing to the size of the fabric you want to make.  Mine was around 12" x 24".  Lay it fusible face up on an ironable surface.  Start laying your scraps over the top of it - cutting them smaller if you like to mix up the variety.

Carry on building until you have completely covered your interfacing.  I used scraps of different weights - there's quilting cotton, lawn, linen and even needlecord on this piece!

Now iron!  Don't use sweeping motions, instead, press down for a few seconds, and then lift.  Keep doing this until you're sure that all your pieces are at least a little stuck down.  You will have some flappy bits where the fabrics have overlapped slightly.

Get a bit of wadding, and carefully lay your piece of fabric over the top.  Then quilt - ideally your quilting needs to be fairly close together - I like a 1/2" grid pattern, this seems to catch most of the loose flaps.

I find sewing a 1" grid first, and then going halfway between the lines to get the 1/2" grid is easier than going straight in for the 1/2" grid.

I wasn't sure whether once sewn it would feel like it would come apart or not, and I can tell you it feels as good and strong as any other fabric.  I love how this looks!

And I have plans for it... which I will show you - but not yet :)

Will you have a go making your own?