Finished Object of the Week

Crumbs. I save them compulsively, and find that each fabric prompts memories of where I bought it, when I bought it, what quilt or sewing project I used it in, or it reminds me of a loved one when it's their favorite color. 

There are only so many crumb quilts one can make though, so it's important to have alternate ways to use them. I am thinking of modge podging a few plastic containers with them, if I can't sew them up quickly enough.

Fortunately, Angela over at SoScrappy has a free tutorial for a crumb project that is both beautiful and useful, especially for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge crew, which I am glad I joined this year.

Ta da! Here is my first rainbow scrap basket.

I think eventually it will replace the hodge podge of storage containers on the middle shelf in this photo. Who knows, maybe I will even make some smaller ones for the narrower shelf below it.

The tutorial is very detailed if you have never constructed anything like this before, so don't be timid about trying it.  I made a few mods to mine though:

• My raw dimensions were 8 x 8 x 10.75. The 10.75 was because I was a tad short on one of my long sides after I quilted it.
• I put an inner lining in before I quilted, because I don't like batting right next to my feed dogs, for lint buildup reasons.  I just used pieces from an old wornout sheet. Waste not want not.
• So far, I haven't put a stiffening piece of cardboard in the bottom, although I may put one in, in a separate fabric sleeve. Not sure yet about that. I merely left an opening in the seem between a long side of the lining and the bottom and topstitched it together because once this basket starts filling up with scraps, no one will see that little seam.
• Instead of a single row of topstitching at the top, I did one that was an edge stitch and another one about 3/8" away from that. I was thinking of cover stitching it with the serger, but that would leave the looper showing on the inside and I wasn't sure I wanted that. 
•  After I pressed it, the sides seamed to want to gap outward so I took a very very tiny tuck by folding the sides together along the seamline and stitching as close to the edge as I could manage for about an inch.It was just enough to pull those sides in a bit and make them stand up straighter. Sorry for the blurry photo, but I hope this shows the tuck well enough.

 

The only other change I might make is to cut the lining pieces about a quarter inch smaller than the outside pieces, and I think the lining might lie flatter against the outside.