If you read my blog, you know how much I love Liberty lawn. I got these tiny fabric scraps of Liberty Betsy from Ava and Neve and wanted to find a way to turn the tiny scraps into a usable piece of fabric for a project. I decided to experiment using iron on vinyl that I talked about here to tack down my fabric so I didn’t need to stitch down all the raw edges. I am so pleased with how this laminate pouch turned out.
If you want to try this out, here’s how you do it.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links that earn me a small commission, at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I personally use and love, or think my readers will find useful.
1. Start off with a piece of fabric for your backing. Mark the area where you want to place your fabric scraps. I suggest a plain fabric piece that is a neutral color. This prevents any color that may show through if the pieces you are laying on top is a light color. Here I marked the seam allowances for my pouch so I wouldn’t glue pieces all the way to the edge. This reduces your seam allowance bulk when you are turn the fabric inside out.
2. Use basting glue or glue stick to adhere your fabric scraps to your backing piece. You can try fusible web but I think it would make your fabric stiffer and with the vinyl on top it would make the fabric harder to turn inside out. Here I used some Aleene’s No-Sew fabric Glue and started laying down my fabric scraps. I also tried glue stick but found the basting glue was more permanent so the pieces didn’t come off as easily.
3. When you’re done you’ll end up with a piece of backing fabric with a bunch of tiny pieces of scraps. Iron down the scraps to get out the wrinkles. You want the surface to be as flat as possible so the vinyl will adhere smoothly without any bumps. Cut your iron-on vinyl slightly smaller then your backing piece and iron on according to the instructions. I used the iron on vinyl left over from my laminate pouch tutorial. You can read more about my experience with this iron on vinyl here.
4. You can choose to glue down more scraps for the other side of your pouch or use a solid piece of fabric. I didn’t have enough Betsy scraps so I choose similar style scrap pieces for the other side of the pouch.
5. I used a piece of pink Betsy for the interior of my pouch. I opted to use french seams like I did in the laminate pouch tutorial I posted here. Here is the interior with the french seams before I turned it right side out.
The pros of this method is you don’t have to stitch down all the tiny fabric scraps. However, if you don’t want to end up with a vinyl fabric pouch then you can zigzag stitch all the scraps to your backing piece and sew up your pouch like you would with a normal piece of fabric.
If you want to try this with some Liberty fabric scraps, you can buy a scrap pack from my Etsy shop.
I would love to hear how you’ve used up your tiny Liberty scraps. Thanks for stopping by and happy “mad” scrap sewing!
Great idea, and good technique! There are lots of bitty scraps left over that I wish I could do something else with, but aren’t even big enough to sew together. You’re making good use of them.
Julie @ Pink Doxies
Great idea ! And what a great way to use up all those tiny scraps of lovely fabric.
I love trying new methods and your directions are great. What a fun pouch with your favorite fabrics. Thanks
Love this idea … hmm now where to find iron on vinyl Perth?
Love this idea! Being a bag lady myself, lol, I will definitely be bookmarking this to give it a try. I have loved Liberty fabrics forever, still have never owned any. Need to change that asap!
That is a cute idea – thanks for sharing!
SO glad you rejuvinated this post….as I LOVE this idea!!! As soon as I saw glue and iron…I was hooked. Inspired to look into those liberty fabrics too. Thanks for sharing at TUesday Archives…inspiration from the past is always good!
What a neat idea! its gorgeous 🙂 Lucy x Hopping over from Freshly Pieced! http://www.crazyforpurple.com
This looks like brilliant fun! And it looks like I can find iron-on vinyl over here, so I’m totally going to try something like this. 🙂 Thanks for the great tutorial!
What a fun project and a great way to use scraps! I’m not usually a fan of Liberty fabrics, but I love what you’ve done with them. Can you link back to TGIFF! so your readers can find us too? Thanks!
This is a lovely idea. I have a small bin full of tiny scraps and they would be perfect for this project
What a great tutorial and you make it looks easy! Thanks for sharing!
What a creative way to use scraps to make something pretty and practical! Thanks for sharing!
*Found you on Sew Many Ways linking party
What a lovely way to use up all those gorgeous scraps.
Featured today…
Interesting process using laminate. I didn’t know an iron-on laminate existed. This project has me brainstorming. Congrats for being featured over at Pam’s.
I LOVE this:) I really hate throwing scraps away, I will be investing in some iron on vinyl:) Found through Threading My Way