What’s your favourite way to use up fabric scraps left over from your quilt projects?
Mine is to dive into an improv quilting session, let loose and just have fun with the trimmings 😊
It’s always an adventure and quilty challenge to see what can be made out of those cuttings.
I know it can sometimes just feel like a bunch of ‘waste’, but I promise there’s golden quilty opportunities just waiting to be discovered by you.
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STORY BEHIND IMPROV LANDMARK
Remember the Landmark quilted wall hanging I shared with you a few weeks ago? Well, I still had plenty of fabric scraps leftover and I was curious to see what could become of them. I was particularly curious to be doing some improv with the colour brown! Not my typical go-to colour, but I challenged myself to use it in the Landmark quilt and I wanted to see it’s potential in an improv quilt.
While the piecing was not as complex as some of my previous improv pieces (looking at you Improv Cloud Surfing Wall Hanging and House of Cards quilt), there were several partial seams that needed to be contended with. Beyond that, this one was a breeze to stitch together.
My goal was to retain some of the structure and clean lines featured in the original Landmark quilt pattern, without it being as orderly.
QUILTING
Once I had the top pieced together, I was excited to dive in and add all the quilty texture with lots of big stitch hand quilted details. This was one of the few projects I brought up to the lake with me when we first self-isolated due to the COVID lockdown. I loved having both the Landmark wall hanging and this improv wall hanging to work on. There’s something very soothing about settling in for a hand stitching session.
What was even more fun though, was switching up my hand quilting style. On the Landmark wall hanging, my stitches enhanced the inherent geometrical nature of the design of the quilt pattern. While on the improv version, I opted for more organic improv stitch work to see how that would add dimension and movement to the quilt. I do love those curved stitches!
QUILT BACKING
One of the things I love about using solid fabrics on the back of my quilts is seeing my stitch work pop. I keep meaning to make a whole cloth quilt entirely hand-stitched so that I can see this approach in full effect.
QUILT BINDING
Along the way, my creative goal with these was to create two wall hangings using the exact same fabrics and thread choices but approaching one entirely in a planned way and the other entirely improv. Since I felt the Landmark quilt needed faced binding to allow the buildings to extend into infinity rather than be cut off by binding, I opted for faced binding on the improv version too! It makes for a really clean effect and allows the design to ‘float’.
MATERIALS FEATURED IN THE IMPROV LANDMARK WALL HANGING
Here’s a full list of the fabrics I pulled solely from my stash for this one:
- *Aura Vog Hula Dolphins
- *AGF Pure Solids in Chocolate
- AGF Denim in Shadow
- Turquoise Linen (*here’s a substitute)
- Brussels Washer Line Dried Linen
- *Blossom in Beach
- *Blossom in Lemon Zest
- *Ruler – you’ll definitely want one of these to make cutting a breeze.
- *Rotary cutter
- *Sewing Machine
- *50wt Aurifil Thread for piecing
- *Pearl cotton thread for hand quilting
- *Snips
- *100% Quilters Dream cotton batting
For more hand quilted inspiration, check out these posts:
I hope this has inspired you to think about the quilty fun you can have with your quilt project fabric scraps. If you need additional inspiration, I’d love to give you and your guild members a lecture on Improv Through Pattern Project Scraps. And if you need help in taming your scraps, then take the free 7-day Scrap Sorting Challenge!
What’s your favourite way to use up your fabric scraps?
Happy quilting!
xo
Shannon
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