Every Scrap Has a Story

No matter how carefully I plan, every quilt seems to leave me with a few new additions to my scrap stash—and honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I’m one of those quilters who saves almost everything. If it’s about 1 ½ inches or bigger, it gets a second chance. Strip ends, corners trimmed from stitch-and-flip blocks, extra squares cut “just in case”… they all find their way into my scrap buckets.

Over time, those little pieces have become a collection all their own. My scrappy stash might even rival my yardage and precut stash (but that’s a story for another day!).

There’s just something special about scraps. They aren’t really leftovers—they’re little pieces of past projects, memories, and hours spent creating, waiting for the perfect opportunity to become something new.

And when those scrap buckets start getting a little too full, I love finding a project where they can shine.

That’s exactly how these pillow covers came to life.

When I made my Barn Star Sampler using mostlyPioneer Woman fabrics (because, I may have a bit of an obsession with her collections), I couldn’t bring myself to throw away any of those scraps. Especially knowing many of those fabrics are no longer available, every little piece felt worth saving.

So I saved every trimmed-off corner. By the end of the project, I had a gallon-sized zip-top bag filled with perfect little half-square triangle building blocks—each one carrying a tiny piece of the original quilt with it.

And now those scraps get to add a pop of fun color and spice to the livingroom.

You can make your very own scrappy pillow covers too.

My pillows need about an 18″ cover to fit snug; sometimes they’re a little bigger, sometimes a little smaller; we don’t do perfection around here. We do fun! Which is also why the pillows never have matching designs.

Gather your scraps – corner cut offs are the perfect starting point. Match 2 pieces together, the stitch with the standard 1/4″ seam allowance, press gently, and trim down to 2 ½ inch squares.

For the pinwheel design, I did a little more planning and made sure to make 4 matching HST for each of the 9 pinwheel blocks. Once the blocks were assembled I added a small 1″ sashing between the blocks, and a 2″ border around the edges.

For the simple HST design I made all 36 HST blocks using 1 colored corner with 1 white or low volume corner. When I laid out the 6×6 design I made sure that the colored corner of each HST was in the upper left. Once that was together I added a simple 2″ border around the edge.

Once the tops are done I add a layer of batting and muslin together, and do some quilting before sewing them onto the backing. These ones I just did a quick meandering design.

To finish, I always do an envelope style back, it makes putting them on and off the pillows super simple and low maintenance.

Do you keep your scraps? What fun projects have you done with them? Share them over on our Facebook page, we’d love to give you some ♥.

Loves & Happy Stitches. 🌻