I’m embarrassed that it’s taken me as long as it has to get these patterns into the world. Somewhere between life life-ing (kids, book, travel, whatnot) the pattern writing got a little lost but I am happy to say that I am finally ready to share it with the world. Say what!? Patterns? Yep. I said patterns!
Zero Waste Quilting Comes to Life
What does that mean for you?
I am happy to share that I am now offering patterns BY THE BUNDLE meaning you have the ability to buy the patterns individually or as a bundle. You get the quilt pattern and additional patterns to use your scraps. Zero Waste Quilting in action and I am thrilled about it! You can buy the Persephone bundle here.
Let’s Take It From the Top
Persephone is a quilt I made using 16 fat quarters back in November 2023. That pattern has been out for some time and the Zero Waste quilts and projects from the leftovers have been pieced but the patterns? Boy howdy have they been woefully MIA. No longer, though! And I am so excited about that.
First Things First – The Clio Quilt and Clio Pillow
The first pattern I created from the leftovers was Clio. The Clio quilt was made using the leftover Half-Rectangle Triangles from cutting the center diamonds for Persephone. The Clio pillow is made using the leftover bordered diamonds that I cut off of Persephone when the quilt was squared. Genius, right? I mean, what else are you going to do with those shapes? The Clio Quilt and Clio Pillow pattern are available here.
It’s Okay to Fail
Before I landed on the pillow and crochet case (not pictured), though, I had to take a creative journey. When you challenge yourself to work in a Zero Waste capacity you work within a set of constraints based on the material you have leftover once a quilt has been cut. The leftover shapes and quantities force you to get creative to figure out how to best use what remains on your cutting board. Experimenting and sometimes failure are crucial to exploring all possible options. Remember it is okay if your design doesn’t come out the way you wanted the first time around.
Take the Clio pillow. I did experiment with making it into a hexagonal pillow but, honestly, I hated it so I went back to the cutting board and a pillow and crochet case were born. Manipulating the triangle shapes I had leftover and cutting them in a way that allowed me to create the pillow and crochet case was a brilliant way to use an odd assortment of triangle pieces. If I hadn’t experimented and failed I may not have gotten there. Don’t be afraid to experiment!
I used an invisible zipper on the pillow but you can use a traditional zipper or any other method of closing that you’d prefer – buttons, tabs, whatever you’d like!
The Crochet Case
I’m calling this a Crochet Case because I made it for my sister (who crochets) but this could easily be a carrying case for crayons, pens, pencils, or any other tools that fit.
I didn’t have an even number of triangles to make another row on the pillow so I decided to whip up this case using the last few leftover pieces I had. I used large scraps for the lining and pockets. The Crochet Case came together quickly. You can find the free pattern here.
Mikro Quilt
Mikro is, perhaps, an unexpected favorite quilt. I had a lot of strips leftover from the borders of the diamonds and what better do make with leftover strips than to make a Log Cabin. The strips were all cut the same width so it’s like they were begging me to make a Log Cabin. It’s a perennial favorite of quilters. It’s easy, versatile and fun, and for a little added flair I inserted scraps into strips to give some movement and use the tiniest leftover pieces.
Notice how the pieces inset into the strips are different widths? It’s okay to be perfectly imperfect. This adds movement to the quilt.
I set the blocks on point and used a bold floral between the squares. I’m beyond thrilled with how this quilt finished. You can find the pattern here.
Composition Notebook Cover
If you’ve followed me for a while you know that one of my favorite gifts to make is this composition notebook cover. In fact, it’s a free pattern here. Have a leftover fat quarter? Make a cover? Need a quick teacher gift? Make a cover. And in this case, have some random scraps sitting around? Make a cover.
Basically, if you can take leftover fabric and make a rectangle: you can make this. The instructions explain how to make the cover using one piece of fabric for the cover and how to make fabric to make a unique cover of your own.
It’s In The Bag
As if the Composition Notebook Cover wasn’t cute enough I have to go and share this bag with you. Another free pattern on my website.
When you create in a Zero Waste manner you often end up with a few rogue scraps. In this case I had a few rectangles that were SCREAMING for me to make them into a drawstring bag. The result? An adorable, little bag. Yes, please! Find the bag pattern here.
Radioactive
Cute name, right? The hexagons remind me of a radioactive symbol and I couldn’t think of a better name so here we are.
Now, I have thoughts on this quilt. It’s cute in its own weird way. The fact is when you get down to all the itty bitty scraps you might land somewhere unexpected.
Originally I thought about making this into a small hexagon only quilt but it didn’t come together in a manner that pleased me. That’s when I decided to separate each hexagon and put it into a square. Et voila!
Is this my favorite quilt ever? No but it’s PERFECT for practicing free motion quilting. Say what? Lemonade, my friends.
Not all quilts need to be show stoppers and I think it’s okay to make a meh quilt then use it to practice. The reason is: you won’t be worried about messing up the top. There is absolute beauty in that so yeah. Make a meh quilt and quilt it for practice. It’s a win win in my opinion. And I don’t know about you but I always need a baby quilt so this is perfect quilt to set aside for just that occasion. Find the free pattern here.
Scrunchie
Do you know how difficult it is to take a photo of a scrunchie in your own hair? It’s hard, y’all. But I did it!
I had one strip of fabric remaining and for the life of me I could NOT figure out what to make with it. Enter the scrunchie, and maybe cue Carrie Bradshaw and the scrunchie episode (season 6, episode 4 in case you’re wondering).
In all honesty, scrunchies have been back for a while so I thought it was time to take make one. It was so quick to make and there was NO hand sewing. None. Nada. No pulling and tugging and wrangling fabric. Super simple. This one’s a winner!
I’m going to publish a tutorial soon to show you how I make scrunchies so stay tuned!