Using Scraps

I've been looking at a heap of fabric scraps I created while trimming hundreds of yards of dyed fabric for our vendor booth last weekend. What to do with them? I have so many scraps that it can be overwhelming, so today I decided to develop an idea I've had for a while; I used the tiny scraps to fill homemade pillow forms. Here's how I did it...

Scraps alone can be very heavy, so I cut up an old foam insert (good springy foam)...



...and mixed the pieces with fabric scraps. I also cut old batting scraps into "noodles" (1/2" strips) to add to the stuffing mixture.

To make a 15" square pillow form with 5/8" seams, I cut two 16-1/4" squares of fabric. Don't be afraid to sew together scraps to make the two 16-1/4" squares; they won't show when the pillow form is in use.

I sewed the squares together leaving an opening on one side, and then trimmed the corners and turned the shell right side out. Next, I stuffed the pillow form with my recycled scraps.



This is the pillow form before I stitched the opening. The filling can be seen through the shell, which is fine for my quilted pillow covers, but if you'd rather not see the scraps through the white cotton shell, try this...

Cut two squares of thin batting (I used cotton) the same size as the cotton fabric for the shell, then layer them this way: 1) cotton batting 2) cotton fabric right side down 3) cotton fabric right side up 4) cotton batting. Pin the layers and then use your walking foot to stitch the pillow shell together, being sure to leave an opening on one side for stuffing.

After sewing the 4 pieces together, trim the batting close to the stitching all the way around, and trim the corners through all thicknesses (keep the scraps for stuffing). Turn the pillow form right side out and then stuff.

Adding batting to the pillow form will keep colors from showing through and will also give a smoother finish to the stuffed pillow form.