16: DB's First Stitch Story + A Speedy Scrappy Shortcut

First Stitch Story: Meet DB

In this episode, we meet DB, who grew up surrounded by sewing, knitting, and crochet thanks to her mom and grandmother. Life (and raising her daughters) put her sewing machine on pause for years, until a new grandbaby pulled her right back to her machine. And her path into quilting came from a fun surprise at a sewing retreat! 

WIP-Finishing Tip: The Scrap Sort Shortcut

Today's WIP-finishing tip is for anyone with a bin (or three!) of scraps and no idea where to start. I share a quick, no-fuss way to quickly sort your scraps so they're ready to grab and sew the moment inspiration strikes, no fancy system required.

This one is especially handy if you're prepping for a scrappy project and want to spend your sewing time actually sewing…instead of digging through fabric for the right-sized pieces.

Scrappy Stamps + A Web-Piecing Shortcut

We also talk about my Scrappy Stamps pattern, a fun way to put all those leftover scraps to good use, plus a speedy piecing technique I recently guest posted for Diary of a Quilter that can help a scrappy quilt top come together faster than you'd think.

Get the Scrappy Stamps FREE quilt pattern!

Time-saving web-piecing tutorial at Diary of a Quilter

Share Your First Stitch Story

Your story might be next! If you'd like to share how you got started sewing or quilting, I'd love to hear it and feature YOU in a future episode!

Email: firststitchpodcast@wildplumlane.com

Quick Submission Form

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Hello, and welcome to the First Stitch Podcast, where we tell the stories of how everyday quilters just like you got started quilting. Plus talk about some other fun quilty things along the way. This is your host, Lisa Donnelly from Wild Plum Lane. Let's get started.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

In this episode, we'll meet a quilter with the initials DB, who wrote, My mom and grandmothers all sewed, knitted, and crocheted, so I grew up with it. My mom gave me a sewing machine when I left home, but it gathered dust as I worked and raised my daughters. When my daughter had a baby girl, then I started back sewing. Children's clothing, especially smocking, are my real joys. A sewing friend invited me to a sewing retreat, which turned out to be twenty women sewing quilts. My curiosity was sparked and turned into a new expression of creativity. I sew one or two quilts a year with my retreat buddies, but I sew mostly garment sew. Hence the need to use all my bins full of scraps to make a scrappy stamps quilt. That's my next project, thanks to your free pattern. A retreat buddy shared it with me, and here we are. Deeby, I love so much about your story. A sewing retreat that turns out to be 20 women quilting? That must have been such a fun way to learn something new from experienced quilters. And let's talk about garment sewing for a second. It is such a detail-oriented skill, and I have so much respect for anyone who can tackle clothing and sewing in 3D. I'm also tickled pink that a retreat friend passed along the scrappy stamps pattern to you. That's exactly the kind of quilty connection this is all about. I'll put the link to that in the show notes. For today's whip finishing tip, since DB mentioned she has bins, plural, of scraps ready to turn into a scrappy stamps quilt, today's tip is for anyone staring down their own scrap stash, wondering where to even begin. Here it is. Before you start sewing, spend just five to ten minutes sorting your scraps into two simple piles by size. Not by color, not by fabric line, just size. One pile can be for pieces big enough to cut into two and a half inch squares or strips, and the other pile can be for everything else smaller than that. You can hang on to those pieces for another project. They can even be stuffing for a dog or cat bed. Or, like me, you can just let them go in the trash if they're too small to be useful. And that's it. You don't need a fancy system to start sorting or perfectly folded fabric. Once you've sorted the useful from the non-useful, you can get fancier from there, but this gives you a simple place to start. After your usable scraps are sorted by size, you can sit down and start cutting exactly what your pattern calls for, without digging through bins every five minutes, which is a total time saver. On that note, let's talk about that scrappy stamps pattern DB mentioned, because it really is one of my favorites for scrap bin quilts. I designed it specifically to use of all those smaller random leftover pieces in a fun, modern way. No two blocks ever look the same, and that's exactly the point. But here's a little secret to make a scrappy quilt like this come together even faster. Web piecing. Last summer I prepared a guest blog post for the fabulous Amy Smart at Diary of a Quilter, and it walks you through this exact technique, sewing your scrap pieces into a foundation web so that the whole quilt top comes together in record time. If you've ever felt intimidated by all those tiny scrappy seams, this method is a game changer. I've dropped links to both the scrappy stamps pattern and the web piecing tutorial in the show notes for this episode, so go check them out. Especially if you, like DB, have a few bins of lovely scraps just waiting for their moment to shine.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

And with that, we'll wrap up this episode of the First Stitch Podcast. If you enjoyed listening, I'd sure appreciate it if you'd hit the subscribe button in your favorite podcast player, write a review on Apple Podcasts, or tell your best quilty friends so they can listen too. By the way, do you have a story to share? Every quilter has a beginning to their story, and we'd love to hear yours. Plus, over the years you might have picked up tips or tricks you could share with others. It might inspire another quilter, so we want to hear about it. Share your personal quilting journey, your best project finishing tip, or your first stitch moment. Your story might be read on an upcoming episode of the first stitch. You can submit your story today by sending an email to First Stitch Podcast, all one word, that's first stitch podcast at wildplumlane.com, or use our quick submission form down in the show notes. I can't wait to talk with you again soon.