If you'd like to read about how this project came about, you can find part 1 here. Otherwise welcome to part 2!
In part 1, I left off having experimented with patchworking various sized scraps together, made up of squares, rectangles and triangles. This took AGES (well, longer than I'd expected) and possibly longer than the results warranted.
So in week 3 & 4 it was time to move onto another experiment using up the offcuts from the offcuts. Some scraps are just too small to sew together as patchwork, not to mention the clumps of threads and tiny scraps I deemed too worthy for the bin (I've reached the ridiculous level of textile rescue, I know, but here we are). So I decided to sandwich these scraps between two layers of a transparent fabric in what I like to call Scrappy Quilting.
I began by shredding the pieces to make them all roughly of a similar size. I then got some organza (secondhand, of course) and placed the shredded scraps between two layers.
Next, it was over to the sewing machine to topstitch all the layers in place. I went over this in a grid format initially, and while some pieces did fall out, I felt it worked well overall. The challenge for this method might be to upscale it so that I can create larger pieces of textile without losing the contents all over the floor.
I like this technique because it can be truly zero waste: no piece is too small for scrappy quilting! The use of a transparent fabric also puts the scraps at the forefront: making waste the focus of this time capsule textile which showcases all of the beautiful pre-loved textiles I've used over the years. It's also totally unique, no two parts of the textile are the same, or can be replicated. Each textile I make in this way over time will evolve slowly, as one fabric's scraps are used up and more get added to the stash.
I also tried this out in greens and blues as you can see above! I've since found some more colours of organza, so lots more scrappy quilting to come!
What do you think of this technique? You can let me know in the comments! I think this unique textile will be perfect for bags and smaller details like pockets or collars.
Part 3 coming soon with my next #ZeroWaste experiments in creating truly sustainable fashion!
Jen x