I use old 2 litre ice-cream containers for my scrap storage, one for a colour or group of colours, as well as one for novelty/multi-coloured scraps and one for felt scraps.
I also use a bigger container for white scraps (which I use a lot of), and an even larger container for batting scraps. The long strips from trimming a quilt before binding end up in here, anything larger than about the size of my laptop is folded and stored with my batting yardage. I also have a WIP scraps bin, which sits on my worktable - I throw bits in there as I'm working on something and then sort them into colour in a batch.
The advantages of using ice-cream containers are that they are stackable, they have lids, they're free and it's easy to change the number of containers you're using. You could start with, for example, four containers but as your scrap stash grew you could extend it to eight (for example), and it wouldn't cost you anything other than maybe a few inches around the waist and half an hour to re-sort your scraps. The downside is they're not pretty.
Some tips I have for scrap storage would be to trim off loose thread and odd pieces that aren't of a usable size, and press them so they're (hopefully) usable straight out of your scrap bin.
So that's mine - it's not pretty, but it works really well, and so long as you've got someone in your house who eats an awful lot of ice-cream then in no time at all you'll have enough containers for your scrap storage. I totally agree with Sarah when she says it's worth keeping your stash beautifully organised, it really does help you actually use it.
I'm very excited that I'll be linking up, for the first time, to Sunday Stash at Molli Sparkles - hello Glitterati!! If you're new here, why not take a look around my Scraps 101 series to see what I've been up to lately.
Very eco friendly I say! And yum - all that ice cream! I use plastic biscuit (cookie) tins of Family Circle biscuits [this is the brand eaten at work] - I have about 12 of them for my notions. They stack perfectly!
ReplyDeleteSo funny, Sarah, that is not at all what our ice cream containers look like!! Ours are cardboard. Dang cheap American companies. I so love finding out these interesting differences.
ReplyDeleteI think your system is great! Thanks again for allowing me to guest post it was great fun.
Now that's a great reason to eat ice-cream!
ReplyDeletegreat idea :-) I am going to start collecting my ice cream containers now!!
ReplyDeleteEvery quilter should bring home eight tubs of ice cream at once, significant others would be either overjoyed or really confused! Haha! What size do you cut your scraps? Thanks for linking up to SS! Off to explore your Scraps 101.
ReplyDeleteYou know you could maybe paste a scrap of the main color on the ends of the tubs? If you covered the ends with a scrap of the color of the scraps inside then these would also be pretty.
ReplyDeleteI don't have enough scraps to have a scrap storage system (yet), and our ice cream comes in cardboard tubs. The opaque containers are a good idea since I have heard that too much light, even artificial, will fade fabrics.
ReplyDeleteThose containers look awesome. And I love free. Right now I use some cheap clear stackable containers I picked up, and they aren't the prettiest, but whatever gets the job done, right?
ReplyDeleteYour ice cream containers take no time to make, and that's a big plus. Ours mostly are cardboard, though there are smaller sherbet containers that are plastic. I use a lot of tissue boxes. I cut the tops off so there's easy access. They don't really stack, but they don't take up much room, either. And there are drawer files, too. Oh, and that tote over in the corner there, that's scraps. Hmmm. Someone has too many scraps!
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