Scrap Swap: Piecing Perfection

We hope you  are loving our scrap week - and that it is inspiring you to clean out those scraps and make room for the Back to School sewing that we are starting August 3rd.  When you are working with scraps, you may have a piece you love, but not enough of it to create the pattern you want.  This is when piecing is your best friend.  Fabrics don't have to be a perfect match in order to work well together.  Play around and have fun until you create a look you love.  A Sparkly Baby is giving you 25% off through Sunday to try out some new knit patterns and get those scrap busting powers to work: code is "EasyPeasy". The Easy Peasy pattern is featured later in this post. 

Suzanne

For my Boo! Skater Dress, none of my scraps we big enough for the circle skirt....so splitting it into 4 pieces was a great way to make it work (you can split into 6 or 8 pieces as well for even smaller scraps).  My pink dots and Frozen fabric weren't great matches, but by bringing the dots up into the bindings, it makes a cohesive look.

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Rachel

Rachel here, this was my first scrap swap with Pattern Revolution, and it did not disappoint! Actually, my kids are already asking when we can do another one - we had such a good time tearing into those stuffed envelopes and digging through the goodies that were sent our way. I got a great pack of knits from Nicole Salcido, and Miss P claimed most of them pretty quickly. I’ve got an awesome piece of metallic vegan leather from Girl Charlee that is going to become mocs for my baby niece, and a beautiful floral that’s headed into my underwear drawer (sorry, no pics ;) ), too. What you see here is all from Nicole, except for the black and charcoal grey solids (which were from my own stash and came from Purple Seamstress Fabric). Since there were a bunch of smallish pieces, I looked for patterns that could be color blocked - or as a bonus, were already pieced/blocked as part of the design. I settled on the Twist and Shout in peplum length by Peekaboo Patterns for the Wizard of Oz custom and Riley Blake dots and chevrons; I used a couple of those pieces plus a piece of the Disney-inspired ISpy custom for a shortened tank version of the (FREE!!) Geo Knit Dress from Sew Straight and Gather. I added flutter sleeves to that one, too. Lastly, I used the Ivy Sun Dress from Peekaboo Patterns for the purple fabric with black horses. That fabric was a drapey lightweight sweater knit, and was so soft. I modified the Ivy pattern to have a bow across the front for the accent, and used the entire piece of the purple knit for the skirt. It was a little smaller than the pattern called for, so it was a little less gathered this way.

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Larissa

This scrap swap really made me think outside the box. I am not one to mix and match prints, and I had some cute pieces this go around! Since I had a last minute vacation right in the middle of it, I knew I needed to keep it simple this time around. I debated over patterns for days! With my daughter out of town for another week, I had to decide on a pattern I hoped she will wear. I found a winner with the Jocole 6 panel skirt. It worked for both my knits and my wovens! My Knits came from Suzanne and included the 4 prints I used plus some awesome Art Gallery Wanderer print and a gold chevron (I have earmarked them to make myself something awesome! I can’t wait for Jody to return from visiting her grandfather next weekend to see her new skirts! **I will finish the elastic waistbands once I can remeasure her since she has been growing like a weed lately!**

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Rebekah

Rebekah back again to show off the 3 knit scraps I received from Larissa. At first I had no clue what to sew as I had to incorporate all three (have to use at least three scraps sent to you) and I just couldn't figure out the best way to mesh them. Finally, once I decided on the pattern, the rest was a piece of cake. For the pattern I used both the Easy Peasy Crossover Dress and Top pattern by A Sparkly Baby. Now I have been admiring this pattern for some time and this was the perfect way to get my behind in gear and sew it up. I have never sewed A Sparkly Baby pattern before but I definitely will again. Instructions where great, options where terrific, and Ruth loves the dress (she actually cried when I took it off her). This one really is Easy Peasy and I love the funky fresh look when combined with the fabric

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Nicole

Nicole here, andI was so excited to participate in another scrap swap. It is always fun to see what others send within their stash and the size of each piece when it arrives in the mail. I was so thrilled when I got my woven and knit packages from Paige and Rebekah. They sent a lot of fun goodies and really made me think outside the box with some of the sizes of the fabric scraps.

I used the dolly Riley and Lucy from Made for Mermaids  to create these adorable sets. Dolly clothing doesn’t take much fabric to create an entire outfit so they are perfect for all those scraps you have been saving and thinking…. what am I going to make with these??  Now you know Dolly clothes. They do take a little bit more patience since everything is on a smaller scale than what I am use to sewing. My girls love when I take the time to make matching dolly and me clothing or just clothing for their dolls. They are really into role playing and take their dolls everywhere we go. 

Clara Mae is also wearing Riley for girls from Made for Mermaids. Riley is the perfect pattern for larger scraps that you can really do a fun mix and match to create unique one of a kind pieces.