Playful Project: Mini Scrap Quilt

Time for another playful project!

Playful projects are little sewing experiments, stressless playtime to try new things, practice techniques, and nourish your spirit through creating. 

The important thing these projects is the act of creating, not how well the thing turns out. Because once you make something simple, more complex things feel accessible and creative ideas start to flow.

Last month’s playful project was sewing a great looking and functional backpack strap. This month’s project is experimenting with a mini scrap quilt.

Play along with me!

Supplies needed for this adventure:

Handful of scraps.

Step 1: Grab a handful of crumpled and colorful scraps.

Step 2: Iron iron iron. (I’m enjoying my new ironing board cover in this floral cotton print.)

Step 3: Cut a small square of fabric, say 4” x 6” to use as the base.

Step 4: Select a small scrap and place it near the center.

Step 5: Select a similarly sized scrap and stitch them right sides together.

Step 6: Play around with another small scrap. Once you decide which scrap and where you want it, sew it in place and trim off the excess.

Step 7: Now break out the slightly larger pieces. In quilting, the seams always get longer and longer as you stitch the puzzle pieces together. So start small and slowly add the larger pieces.

Step 8: But if pieces feel too big, you can stitch over them with another color to break them up. Here I’m adding this floral pattern to the corner.

Step 9: Keep adding scraps until the whole base is filled and you have all the colors you want.

That’s it! You have a mini quilt block.

Here’s what the back looks like.

Tune in for another playful project next month!

If you enjoyed this tutorial, you may also enjoy…

Playful Project: Backpack Strap

How to make a nice looking and functional backpack strap - with free printable PDF.

Sewing a mini quilt

Making a dollhouse mini quilt.

Sewing Felt Baby Booties

Making felt booties for my littlest niece.

Playful Project: Backpack Strap

Do you ever play with little sewing experiments? 

I like them because they come with no pressure to turn out well or to end in a completed, usable piece. They are just practice projects to workshop new techniques, add to your skillset, and exercise creativity.

I’ve come to call these playful projects.

This playful project is experimenting with sewing a nice looking, strong, and functional backpack strap.

Here is a PDF printout of the strap to sew along!

Supplies for this adventure:

2 outer layers (ripstop nylon or other non stretch fabric)

1 padding layer (neoprene, cotton batting, sweatshirt fabric)

1 yard 1" grosgrain ribbon 

½ yard 1" webbing 

1 1" ladder lock buckle

Step 1: Sandwich the padding in the two outer layers and baste stitch around the edge with ¼" seam allowance.

Step 2: Clip the grosgrain ribbon in place around the perimeter.  

Step 3: Carefully stitch the ribbon in place. 

Here’s an up close of the difference between the webbing and grosgrain ribbon.

Step 4: Insert the webbing into the ladder lock. Pin the webbing in place down the center of the strap. 

Step 5: Edgestitch down each side of the webbing. 

Step 6: Sew bar tacks along the bottom to secure the ladder lock. 

That's it! You have a playful backpack strap that you don't have to do anything with! 

But who knows, maybe sometime down the line you'll feel like making a backpack. Here’s a climbing rope bag I recently made using this method for the straps.

Here's the PDF printout again if you'd ever like to use it.

If you enjoyed this playful project, you may also enjoy…

Playful Project: Mini Scrap Quilt

How to play with free quilting and make a cute little mini scrap quilt.

Using a Twin Needle for Seam Binding

Playing with a twin needle for binding bag seams.

The Easiest Way to Sew In-Seam Pockets

Step by step tutorial to add pockets to all your skirts and dresses.

Quilting Cotton Before and After Washing

Joann’s stores closing has me feeling sad. It is therapeutic to walk through colorful aisles of fabric, isn’t it?

Here are some floral quilting cottons acquired in the closing sale. The texture of washed cotton is so delicious, it was tempting to throw these straight in the wash. But I was curious what it would look like to document the fiber texture changes after washing.

These are before and after photos. I was surprised how much the washed texture increased volume of the folded fabric.

Before.

After.

Before.

After.

Before.

After.

Before.

After.

Before.

After.

I’m definitely getting more fabric before the final locking of the doors. It will be a sad day indeed.

If you enjoyed this post, you may also enjoy…

Sewing a New Ironing Board Cover

Making a new cover for my antique ironing board.

Using a Twin Needle for Seam Binding

Comparing the single and twin needle for seam binding.

How to Sew a Ruffle Pillow

Step by step tutorial to fill your living room with ruffle pillows!

Sewing a New Ironing Board Cover

Time for a new ironing board cover!

For a few years I used my sister’s antique ironing board from our grandmother. It was a sturdy, foldable, crisscross wooden frame with a rich amber color.

It’s hard switch to a modern, metal frame ironing board after that. They don’t feel as sturdy and certainly do not have the same warm presence in the room as wooden ones.

So I was on the lookout for another antique board and eventually found this one at a secondhand store.

I wanted a fabric with a busy pattern to hide any water stains from the iron.

I also wanted something bright and cheery to match the whimsical style of the sewing room. These fabric options were on hand (recently acquired from Joann’s sale).

The old cover didn’t extend beyond the bottom edge the board very far, which was an annoyance. So I cut the new one several inches larger and sewed four darts to shape it along the nose and tail.

The faithful bodkin helped me pull a long cotton cord through the tunnel of bias tape.

I toyed with the idea of elastic instead of cotton cord. But elastic has a much shorter shelf life. I liked the idea of this lasting a long time.

Details

Fabric 100% cotton from Joann’s.

Ironing board Antique board found at second hand shop for $10.

If you enjoyed this blog post, you may also enjoy…

Quilting Cotton Before and After Washing

Photos documenting before and after washing quilting cotton.

How to Sew Ruffle Picture Frames

Step by step tutorial to sew ruffle picture frames from embroidery hoops!

How to Sew Bias Tape

Everything you need to know about getting started with sewing bias tape.

Tea Time and Linen

Three things I’m happy about:

1) My newly acquired American history mug collection. Found at a thrift store for $0.88 each.

2) These fun sewing projects I recently made tutorials for on The Thread blog. Linen scrunchy with piping and puffy linen sleep mask (full tutorials linked).

3) This cute little wooden table that was in someone’s rubbish bin. I rescued it!

If you enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy…

Green Linen Ruffle Tote

Ruffle ruffle ruffle.

Feeling Sentimental

A reflection on the memory of fabric and how to honor the past.

How to Sew Ruffle Picture Frames

Step by step photo tutorial to make your own circular ruffle picture frame.