Hand's up if you have a pile or a bin or a drawer full of scraps squirrelled away somewhere in their sewing space? It can't be just us!

I wasn't sure how they were going to handle the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle episode of the Sewing Bee, after all they do the refashion challenge every week already.   It's no secret that I think refashions are the most challenging part of each episode!  But I found myself pleasantly surprised by the garments the sewers made, I especially liked the pussy bow blouse and would like to make one myself! 

I have to say I agreed wholeheartedly that Juliet's dress deserved 'Garment of the Week'.  Yes, the fabric on the bodice was a little off centre, but we don't know what stains or tears she was working around- the joys of working with used fabrics!

Photo from GBSB Instagram

There are a few things we can do with our scraps and smaller pieces of fabric.  As well as using up pre-loved garments we also find ourselves with all these off cuts and small remnants of fabrics from our sewing projects.   Kids clothes are excellent for scrap busting, you need very little fabric to make a tiny pair of shorts or a little dress. 

Or how about a pair of pants?!  We sell the Camox trunks for men by Thread Theory which Sarah has made for her husband and Megan Neilsen has a FREE knicker pattern for women I want to try at some point.

If you have less than a meter of fabric left from a project sometimes can squeeze out a smallish garment from it.   I like to make the Ogden Cami with my woven scraps.  I recently made one from 1/2m liberty lawn, and just had to use a plain lawn for the facings.  Or make a pair of pyjama shorts using our Crafty Sew&So pattern. 

Another idea for using up small pieces of fabric came from my friend Lauren- she made this amazing patchwork dress using pieces of scrap fabrics!  

Lauren sewed all her scraps together to make a panel of fabric then cut out her pattern pieces.  Once the larger pieces were cut out, she repeated the process to minimise waste! She's so clever.  Lauren is collecting scraps and working on the next patchwork dress already- I can't wait to see it.  

Another scrap busting project I really want to have a go at making is the Closet Case Patterns Floor Pouf, which not only uses up scraps for the outsides but suggests you stuff your pouffe with more scraps!  This is genius, you can stuff in all the little, otherwise useless scraps and save yourself buying materials specifically just to stuff the pouffe and it makes it really sturdy too!