If you’re like most of us in the sewing business field, we tend to accumulate boxes and drawers full of fabric scraps.  A few months ago I made up my mind that those scraps in the boxes and drawers were NOT making me any money, and decided to put my thinking cap on to see just how I could turn them into profit.  For our project of this month, I’m going to show you how I made flowers from scrap fabric, and how I then turned them into items that would indeed make some money.

For each flower you’ll need co-ordinating color fabrics.  Cut the first length 22″ long x 3″ wide.  I’ve made a scallop edge along the outter edge, and cut the scallop and straight edges with a pinking shears.  The second length of co-ordinating fabric will be 16″ x 2″.  A third length can be made that would be 10″ x 1″.

Sew a running/gathering stitch along the straight edge of the strips of fabric, then draw the thread up to make the flower shape.

Gather the long edge until it makes a tight circle in the center and secure the middle with thread from the strip. Do the same with the smaller, co-ordinating color strips.

The last thing to do is cut a 1″ circle out of one of the fabrics to stitch to the center of the flowers.  Use black thread to stitch the center circle to the flower layers.

The first thing I did with one of the flowers was decorate a plain jean jumper for a granddaughter.  This brought some orders for “decorating” children’s garments from the day care center the little girl attended.  The jean jumper did turn out pretty nice, and I ended up making another one so I could hang one plain and one decorated in my customer area as a show and tell “before and after” picture.

The next thing I did with some flowers was to make a couple bouquets to put in my customer area – and ended up doing some special orders for some customers.  To make the bouquets, I put two flowers together with florist wire in the middle using hot glue to attach the three items.  After making the number of double flowers/florist wire that I wanted, I added some greenery and stuck them in a vase.

Now then, I’ve saved the VERY BEST idea for last!  This one brainstorm has brought the most money from my scraps, and kept me busy last Christmas season.

I made a doll quilt – finished measurements 19″ x 33″.   Cut 2 pieces of cotton/polyester fabric 20″ x 34″.  Using just one of the pieces, measure out and mark 6 lines down and 3 across, as in the following picture.  Stitch wide rick rack along the lines, then attach assorted color flowers at several of the junctions where the rick rack crosses.  Put the second piece of fabric on top and then a piece of quilt batting cut to size.  Sew 1/2 inch seams around 3 sides, turn inside out, and hand stitch the fourth side closed.

I had one of my granddaughters’ baby doll in a little doll bed in the customer area with the doll quilt on the doll — of course with a price tag on it.  Little girls coming in with their mothers immediately ran to the little bed and wanted to have the “baby cover”.  Grandmothers who came in for work fell in love with the little doll quilts and wanted some for Christmas gifts.

There are many other things that can be done with the scraps — little tote bags, book marks, beach bags, bean bags and more.  Let’s use up those fabric scraps and get a little extra cash coming in.

Check out Patterns2Go and PatternsThatFitYou for more easy patterns and projects.