From the article: Frugal Quilt Patterns
Are you a Frugal Quilter? Do you take steps to keep your passion for quilting from ruling the checkbook? Join the conversation by sharing some of your favorite frugal quilting tips with members of the online community. Share Your Frugal Tips
Frugal pays off for needy children
- My quilt guild makes scrap quilts for a local home for unwed mothers, and each new baby gets one of our quilts. We all get together once every couple of months, bring our machines and ironing boards, and piece assembly-line style. Sometimes we break off into teams and have contests. By the end of the evening, we've been chatting and laughing and end up with many, many quilts ready to go to the home. Nita in Ocala, Florida, I wish your animal shelter was like ours here in Kansas. They take our pillows made from thread and fabric clippings and love them. I use inexpensive muslin to make the pillow cases. Thanks to who wrote in about using small pieces of batting on the Swiffer. Great idea! Here's one. I use new coffee filters as stabilizer for machine applique. They peel off easily after stitching is done. Finally, everytime I buy new fabric, I cut off one 2 1/2 inch strip and store it jelly-roll style in a plastic storage shoe box. Makes great gifts too.
- —clothcomfort
Frugal Tips
- I save my empty tissue boxes and cut the top off them to keep my threads separate. I also use the boxes to put cut off threads into as I am sewing -- when the box is full you can throw it out or make a fabric thread bowl with it using Solvy. I collect all of the extra buttons that come with clothes and cut them off worn out clothes to use on projects. In the meantime I leave them in a mason jar to decorate our family room.
- —Guest jovdmey
Dryer Sheets Verdict
- I was an EMT in my former (read: "younger") life. Please do NOT use dryer sheets for bedding. Wall hangings/decorations are not as bad. All fabric softener reduces the flame retardant aspects of fabric. This is why all (I think it's all over, may just be in America) children's sleepwear says "do not use fabric softener" on its labels. I know it's frugal, and I know it's reducing waste........ but for bedding and clothing, anything potentially touching a person, please use something else. Thrift store/garage sale sheets, thin fabrics -- just not dryer sheets.
- —moelston
Use Flannel for Cleaning
- I hate to use scraps of batting for Swifter replacements because they can be sewn together to make larger quilting pieces. Flannel from garments that are beyond use makes wonderful replacements when cut to size, and can be either washed or thrown away -- no cost or waste.
- —Deinya
The Quilter
- Because I am a machine quilter, I buy queen and king size cotton quilt batting. After sandwiching my bed quilts, I save any left over batting pieces. I use old rotary blades in my rotary cutter when cutting the batting. I straighten out any uneven edges, then butt two pieces together using a wide zig-zag stitch in matching thread to sew the pieces together to make the size needed. This method works well for baby quilts, table runners, wall hangings, etc. I also use this method on larger quilts when my batting is just a little short, adding strips that are slightly larger than I need, then cutting to size.
- —Guest MargeDabrow
Frugal quilting.
- I have a comforter I do not like and have been hand sewing squares and other shapes on it one at a time as I find material I like. I get to sleep under it as it changes.
- —Guest lori Bj scott
Recylced bedding = great/easy 1st quilt
- I am making my first quilt and have gathered old sheets (some from the secondhand store) and some from home (empty nester cleaning) with no pattern in mind. I cut my squares and let the 6 different sheet sets tell me what the pattern is to be. I wish I could show you a photo - it's going to be very nice. The back of it will be a queen size sheet with old comforters (that don't match my decor anymore) in the middle.
- —Guest lori Bj scott
second hand finds
- I search the thrift shop for 1x, 2x, 3x size clothing, and then use these for my crazy quilts. I never drive by a thrift shop without stopping -- you never know what you'll find.
- —Guest a knew beginning at "50"
Putting unused batting to work
- I cut left over batting into 8 by 10 inch pieces and use them on my flat floor cleaner. It's a lot cheaper that buying refills and they do great job on both floors and walls to remove dust and loose threads in my sewing room.
- —squiggie
pegs8
- I have just started doing this as a friend got me hooked. I cut up remainders of fabrics into 1", 2" & 2 1/1" strips and hang on hangers. The advent of Jelly rolling was anticipated many years ago by my very smart sister. She's now whipping out the quilts found in books, mags and online. Wish I had listened sooner. pegs8
- —Guest pegquilter8
Holiday Ornaments
- There are lots of free patterns out there for beautiful hand-sewn tree ornaments for holidays. Scraps of fabric and batting are all you need!
- —kgeslab
Scraps for Dog beds!
- My husband buys really cheap flannel blankets at truck stops. I save my scraps, batting, dryer sheets, and old clothes that are no longer useable. Each Christmas I sew my dogs new beds and fill them with the scraps.
- —kgeslab
Annual scrap quilt.
- I save all my scraps for a calendar year. In January of the next year I put them all together, some as pieced blocks and others as crazy patches. I usually put a plain backing on to cut down on seam bulk. I usually get 2 or 3 tops from one year's scraps. It's interesting how my tastes have changed from year to year.
- —Guest beffalump
Frugal foundation for scrap quilts
- I used to use paper foundations for strip pieced scrap quilts, but what a pain to remove the paper. Someone had given me some really ugly fabric that was too thin, so I cut it into large squares to use for the foundation and placed it wrong side up so that the design on the fabric wouldn't show through some of the lighter fabric strips that I flip and sew down onto the foundation. It worked great, and no one knows that there is some really ugly fabric under there, LOL.
- —Guest Sue in CA
Recycled mattress pads
- I use old mattress pads to fill potholders. They are thick enough to take the heat.
- —Guest rosemary
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