Holy Scrap! What to do with Scrap Fabrics? (DIY) | Style Pile #18

There is a box in every crafter’s home,
that is filled with old unfinished projects,

and stuff you thrifted in the hopes of upcycling.

That becomes abandoned, that becomes forgotten.

Well this is the series that tackles that
forgotten box.

This is the Style Pile!

This video is supported in part by Storyblocks.

Hello!

Welcome back to the Style Pile, and we’re
up to episode 18… and somehow my style pile

has only grown bigger… which means I definitely
need to start making these videos more frequently

and STOP buying new stuff to add to the pile.

ANYWAY, I’d like to introduce you all to
a NEW component of my “style pile” (let’s

be real, style pile is just a euphemistic
term for “hoarding problem” at this point).

Yes, it's a third box.

So this third box is entirely scraps, old
worn-out clothes and unwanted projects.

So for the last 6 months or so I’ve been
saving every single bit of fabric scrap from

other projects, either from when I’m upcycling
things – like, this is the bottom of the

t-shirt that I cut off in episode 16 – or
when I’m making clothes from scratch, and

there’s curvy bits in the pattern… like
this fabric here is some scraps leftover from

making a pair of pants!

I also throw things in here when I make something
ridiculous for make thrift buy that I’m

never going to wear… does anybody recognize
this particular one?

Now a huge reason that I’ve been doing this
is that I recently watched this program, that

aired in Australia, called “The War On Waste”
and this is how many clothes Australians throw

out every ten minutes!

So after seeing this, I was like, WELP, I’m
never throwing out any tiny piece of fabric

or tiny piece of thread ever again, because
I don’t want to contribute to this huge

waste of fabric and resources.

And so I have ended up with this quickly growing
scrap pile.

So let’s see what we can do with these!

Can we turn them into something new?

Project number 1!

The first thing that I’m going to try and
make with my scrap fabrics is a Plushie Toy!

Now it’s my niece’s 5th birthday this
week, and I wanted to make her something cute!

So, I’m going to use THIS piece of fabric,
which is also a cut off from this cotton t-shirt

that I also upcycled in the episode 16, and
I’m going to iron an image onto it.

So first, I needed to find an image.

Now, I wanted to make a cute cartoon animal
plushie.

But I also didn’t want to infringe on any
copyrights.

So I headed over to my favourite royalty free
graphics website – formerly known as Graphic

Stock – you guys know that I’m a huge
fan, and I've used them before, I've told

you about them before – Storyblocks!

And full disclosure, they are also sponsoring
this video!

Anyway first I did a search for some owls,
coz I think owls are really cute, they'd make

a cute plushie – but [laughing] why are
you so sad?!

And then I looked up unicorns and I actually
found some super cute narwhals, which would

also make a pretty great plushie.

Then I typed in hedgehog, and I ended up finding
this super cute image, but I also ended up

deciding to use this fox from the image instead!

So next I opened up the image in photoshop,
removed the background colours, and I did

this little trick to add SEAM ALLOWANCE around
the fox image, which is important for making

the plushie.

To add the seam allowance, in photoshop, with
the fox layer selected, I went to Layer > Layer

Style, and I clicked on Stroke.

This opened up this box, which puts an outline
around the fox image.

So I played around with outline colours and
widths, and I also cleaned up the edges using

the eraser tool.

This toggle here changes the width of the
outline, I bumped mine up to 20 to get an

approximately half an inch seam allowance
around the fox once it was printed out.

Now I printed it out onto plain paper first
to check that the size was right, before I

printed it out properly in full colour onto
my photo transfer paper.

And… then, this happened.

"Nooooo!"

Sighhhh.

PRINTERS.

I swear it;s the one technology that’s never
really improved since I was a kid.

Anyway, this slightly-damaged the very expensive
photo transfer paper that I was trying to

print on, but I didn't want it to go to waste
so I put the paper through for a second attempt

AND - we finally got there!

Now for the transfer paper, I’m using Lesley
Riley’s TAP, which is honestly the best

transfer paper I’ve ever used, especially
if you’re making something like a plushie.

That’s because when you iron it onto the
fabric, the image actually sets itself INTO

the fabric instead of just being stuck on
top of the fabric in a plasticy-way like other

transfers I’ve used.

I’ll show you a close up at the end of this
tutorial, and you’ll see what I mean!

So I cut the fox out with scissors, and then
I followed the instructions in the transfer

paper kit to set the image into the fabric.

Now this is only my second time using this
transfer paper, so I’m still working out

the kinks – and larger images are harder
to do than smaller ones – BUT I think that

overall, it transferred pretty well!

So once I’d transferred the image to this
white cotton t-shirt scrap, I then searched

through my scrap fabric box for two more pieces
that could act as 1.

the back piece, and 2.

A backing for the fox image.

The scraps just needed to be larger than the
fox image.

So I ended up with these two pieces, which
are both light-weight, woven, non-stretchy

cottons, and I cut them to roughly the same
size as the fox image fabric.

This darker floral fabric is going to become
the backing for the fox image.

I put some pins through the two layers to
hold them together, and next I’m going to

sew them together like THIS.

I sewed right on the edge of that orange outline
“seam allowance” that I added, using a

straight stitch.

Now because t-shirt fabric is stretchy, I
was also careful to not stretch this at all

while sewing it to this backing piece.

Once that was done I carefully cut around
the image, just outside of the stitches.

Then I grabbed this brown floral cotton piece,
which I’m going to use as the back of the

plushie, and I flipped it so it was right-side-up,
then flipped the fox down onto it – so the

two pieces of fabric are right-sides-together
– and I sewed the two pieces together by

sewing around the fox just inside the white
stitches there.

I’m also not sewing entirely around the
fox shape – I’m going to leave a small

opening here.

Then I cut off all that excess backing fabric
by cutting around the fox shape, just outside

of those two lines of stitching.

And those offcuts went right back into the
scrap pile!

Then, through the small opening, I turned
the fox the right way around.

I also used a pair of scissors to help me
push out the more difficult corners!

And now we have a very deflated-looking fox
plushie, ready to be stuffed!

Now because I’m using all scrap fabrics
for this project, instead of using something

like Polyfill, I’m going to use scrap fabrics
to fill it.

So this is where all my teeniest tiniest fabric
scraps get their chance to shine!

A lot of these are offcuts from when I use
my overlocker, or cut threads off of my sewing

machine!

However, I didn’t think that even all of
these scraps would be enough to fill the fox,

so I also chopped up some larger fabric scraps
like this, by folding them up and then chopping

them into bits with scissors.

I also tried cutting strips with my rotary
cutter just like a master chef slicing up

some vegetables.

And that worked… but it was a little bit
more dangerous, so… please be careful if

you try this method!

Anyway, then I used all this shredded fabric
to stuff the fox, through that little gap

in its side!

And yeah, this pile of scraps looks like more
than enough to fill the fox, right?

Well, I actually needed even more than this!

So I cut up a lot more larger scraps to fill
it.

Once it was filled, I hand-sewed up the small
hole in the side, and it was done!

OH and before I show you the final project,
I wanted to show you how well this transfer

paper goes in the fabric – see how it’s
really a PART of the fabric, not just stuck

on top, all plastic-y-looking, like most fabric
transfers can be?

Anyway, this is what it looks like aaaaall
finished!

SO, that was a really simple way of making
a cute Plushie toy, BUT if you scaled it up,

this method could also be used to make something
like a pillow as well!

The only “new” thing that you need in
this project is transfer paper, everything

else is made from your old scraps!

[kids cartoon music plays]

SO, we still have 3 other scrap fabric projects
to go, I’ve filmed a total of 4, but this

video is getting long enough already!

SO what I’m going to do is to break this
up into a little mini-series of 4 episodes.

So come back here in 3 days, if you’re watching
this on the day that this comes out, to see

me try and make a sleeping mask out of all
scrap fabrics and old clothes!

And then in parts 3 and 4 we’ll also be
trying out 2 other projects!

So as I mentioned in the beginning, StoryBlocks
is sponsoring this video!

Storyblocks provides high-quality photos,
vectors, icons and more that are all royalty

and copyright free, so you can use them in
anything you want – seriously, they’re

great if you run a business that has any graphic
design component, a website, or a youtube

channel as well!

I use them a lot!

You can download anything from their 400,000-strong
image library in the Member Library, AND they

also have a new Marketplace, where designers
and artists license their images.

So not only does this help artists sell their
work, being a Storyblocks Member gives you

60% off any of these if you want to use them
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Storyblocks is giving away a 7-day free day
trial through my promo link, so that you can

try it out for yourself!

So click on the link in the description box
below, or go to storyblocks.com/youtube – and

start downloading images today!

Thank you so much to Storyblocks for sponsoring
this video!

And thanks to all of YOU for supporting the
companies that support this channel!

Anyway, I’ll see YOU all for parts 2, 3
and 4 really soon.

Bye for now!

Thank you to all of my supporters on Patreon
who, along with the sponsor of this episode,

make these video possible!

To become a Patreon supporter, go to patreon.com/annikavictoria.