Pleasant Home: Challenging the Myth of Ugly Fabric

As many of you know, I love sewing with scraps. My scrappy quilts are usually my favorites.

Many times I've had quilters say to me, "I have ugly scraps. Nothing I made with my scraps would be as cute as yours!"

In this post, I'm challenging the myth of "ugly" fabric!

Earlier this year, my friend Kate brought me a tub of fabric scraps from her mom, Georgia.

Georgia is an artist extroidinaire. And has been quilting for many years. She makes some beautiful quilts.

One of Georgia's quilts I had the pleasure of quilting.

Georgia has a group of fellow quilters that get together often to quilt together. They are all very generous with their fabric, and often Georgia's quilts have been stitched together using fabric from the free box from her fellow quilters.

When Kate brought the tub of fabric scraps to me, she said, "I'm not sure you're going to like any of this; some of it is kind of ugly compared to what you usually sew with!"

I must admit that I took one look and became a little overwhelmed, wondering what I would make with her mom's scraps.

The fabrics weren't my usual style, colors, prints, etc. I wouldn't have even given most of them a second glance in the fabric store. But I wouldn't call them ugly.

The colors were muted and earthy, with loads of greens, blues, tans, and blacks in the tub. Along with a good helping of Batik's. I have never sewn with Batik's.

But I decided to dig in with a goal in mind. I was going to make some tablerunners for Kate with her mom's fabric. Self-imposed challenge accepted!

Here is my process:

1. I dumped the container onto my worktable

2. I sorted the fabric scraps by color

3. I ironed each piece and hung the pieces over my longarm bars by color.

The fabrics looked so good and were so pretty hanging on Betty Jean. And my first thought was scrappy patchwork.

Personally, I think patchwork, no matter the fabric, always looks good!

So I began cutting strips and squares from Georgia's scraps. Then I dug out my large design boards and started rearranging squares of fabric into patchwork blocks.

That's when I had the idea! I quickly grabbed Lori Holt's Vintage Christmas book and bookmarked some of the simpler block patterns. Including the snowman block.

You can find Lori's book HERE and HERE

I have made MANY table runners with simple patchwork blocks and Lori's block patterns from her various books. So I was excited to try one with the "ugly" fabric.

And look at the result!

I only used my own fabric to help make the runners if I absolutely had to. Like the snowmen. There was not white in the tub, so I used some of my own.

I am completely in love with this runner and had so much fun quilting it on the longarm.

I gifted 3 table runners to my friend Kate, all made with her mom's "ugly" fabric. Later this year, I'll show the other two. They turned out equally as good! And each was in a different color way.

The fabrics weren't my usual picks. But it was super fun, and I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge.

Many think they have bins, drawers, and shelves storing ugly fabric. But do you really?

Go ahead! Dig into your "ugly" scraps and explore! Try some patchwork first and then tie it all together with one of Lori's quilt blocks. You might be amazed at what you create!