Trimmings Tutorial
A few of you mentioned my little pile of trimmings left from my Postcard from Sweden quilt. Today I’d like to show you a little trimmings tutorial, a fun project with those colorful trimmings you might not be able to toss.
This little tutorial is not an original; there are several similar examples online. This is just the way I do it, so I thought it would be fun to share with you.
What You Need
You’ll need the following items for this project:
- Trimmings
- Scrap of Fabric
- Water Soluble Stabilizer (I use Solvy by Sulky) *no affiliate
- Scissors (I use my non-fabric scissors)
Let’s Get Started
Take your scrap fabric and cut a piece large enough to hold a pile of your trimmings. Mine was about 5″ x 6″ or so, but there is no correct size. You just want enough of a base for the pile of trimmings.
Place the trimmings on the scrap fabric. Cover the scrap fabric so that you can’t see the fabric through the trimmings. You don’t want the trimmings too thin or too thick. They will squish down as you sew.
It’s okay if the trimmings hang over the side of the base fabric a little; you just want most of the trimmings on the fabric.
Next, cut a piece of stabilizer about an inch or so larger than the trimmings/base fabric. Be sure it covers all of the trimmings.
Choose a thread color that will blend with the trimmings. I used lime green (because it was already in my sewing machine).
Time to Sew
Now carefully lift the whole thing and take it to your sewing machine. Place it under the foot to begin sewing. Note that I have my walking foot on my machine. You don’t need to use a walking foot, but it might go through the fabric easier. I began by sewing across the width and then across the length, just to anchor it a bit.
Begin sewing back and forth across the trimmings. Use free motion quilting, sew straight lines, wavy lines — whatever you wish. Just want to make sure you have sewn through it well. There shouldn’t be any big gaps where the trimmings could come loose.
I chose to sew simple wavy lines.
Trim the extra stabilizer around the edges. Don’t cut those straggly trimmings. You want them there!
Rinse Cycle
Okay, now comes the fun part. You’ll need a bowl of water at room temperature, a hand towel, and your trimmings block.
Dip the trimmings block into the water and gently swish it around until you feel all the stabilizer wash away. It only takes a couple of seconds. The stabilizer is a little gooey, so you’ll want to be sure you have it all rinsed out.
Unfold the towel, and lay the wet trimmings block face down on it. Roll the towel and trimmings block up tightly and squeeze to soak up some of the water from the trimmings block.
Your trimmings block is ready to dry. You can press it with an iron, while face down on the towel, to continue to get some of the water out, but it’s easiest to just hang it and let it dry. Here’s the view from the back:
And here’s the front:
Isn’t that a pretty little shaggy block?
There are all kinds of possibilities for this little piece of fun. Pieces could be cut off and used to make cute little cards. You could stitch this onto a bag or maybe a jean jacket. You could frame it for fun wall decor. Maybe a fun pin to wear?
I may paint this square of canvas and mount the trimmings on it. I think I’d like to see this happy little mess on the wall of my quilt room!
What about you? Have you ever tried making something like this? If you have, what did you use it for?
Linking up today with Beth at Cooking Up Quilts and Beth at Love Laugh Quilt.
Wendy
32 Comments
Tracie
I learned something new! I wouldn’t have thought of saving trimmings to make this cute piece of “shag.” Fun! Especially from Postcards from Sweden 🙂
piecefulwendy
Thank you! Hope you give it a try!
Cocoa Quilts
That is too cute! Nice use of those pesky trimmings Wendy.
piecefulwendy
Thanks, Jan!
Louise Hornor
How fun! I never knew there was such a thing as wash away stabilizer. I’ll have to look for that. Thanks for the tutorial!
piecefulwendy
Thanks, Louise! Give it a try!
cozyquiltslb
What a creative idea, so colourful …might make a good mug rug. All my scraps go into dog beds for the animal shelter
piecefulwendy
A mug rug would be fun 😊
s
LOL Great minds! I saved mine too (used the pic as well, ha!) but I was thinking of putting them into a washed out (reuse – LOVE!) candle jar for some pretty sewing room colour and fun! We did this in a class at a retreat once with Solvy, but with gorgeous threads, and then molded it over a bowl as a form: voilà! Little thread dish! So cute, and I use it to hold a couple of chocolates to this day–another staple of the sewing room!
Sandra Walker
Gack! I’m Sandra not s….
piecefulwendy
LOL
piecefulwendy
Oh! A thread dish! I need more info!!
Barbara
Well, that was kind of fun.
piecefulwendy
Thanks!
Sherry @ PoweredByQuilting
whoa… that’s fun! I have no idea what I’d use it for… but it looks like fun 😀
piecefulwendy
Thanks! I’m still thinking about how to use it. Ideas are brewing.
shelteringhaven
This is so perfect! Makes me think of the scripture verse: “All things work together for good…!”
piecefulwendy
Yes! 😊
Kathleen McCormick
Those are truly fun projects. I love the scarves people do with them! I also love the idea of a wall hanging…a different kind of mini!
piecefulwendy
Thanks! They are fun and quick!
Tish
This is so cool! I’ve never seen anything like this before, Wendy. I think it would make a fun card or would look really good mounted on a canvas. Thanks for sharing.
piecefulwendy
Thanks, Tish! I hope you give it a try 😊
Jennifer Strauser
What a great idea. Thanks so much for sharing.
piecefulwendy
You’re welcome, Jenn! Glad you liked it!
laughinggasquilts
OMG, Wendy! It’s so cute. Looks like I’ve another project to try. Thanks for sharing.
piecefulwendy
You’re welcome! Glad you like it! Let me know if you try it.
Nancy @ Grace and Peace Quilting
Love your colorful, mini shag rug!!! I saw this demoed by a longarmer–she used novelty yarns and did a piece on her longarm big enough to become a vest. Your mini version is much more manageable.
piecefulwendy
A vest?!? Wow! Thanks, Nancy!
Preeti
You are evil!!! Like I don’t already have enough scrappy stuff on my plate and now this – I won’t be able to sweep these snippets away, into a dust pan and into the trash can. UGH!!!
Will tell you how it goes 😀
thedarlingdogwood
Neat idea! Thanks!
piecefulwendy
Thank you! Glad you liked it!
Dione @ Clever Chameleon
Well, what a good idea. I had never thought of using my solvy stash to do something like that. I have a friend who knits up all my long thin fabric scraps that are too thin for string blocks. My daughter usually begs the tiny scraps…. just magpie collecting the pretties. I don’t think she has a plan for them. But she could probably do this with not much help. Thanks.