Tag Archives: Scrap Fabric Strings

Depression Era Quilts, Quilts and Quilting, String Me Along, Vintage Style String Me Along

Vintage Style String Me Along

August 19, 2026 Susie Stuklis 2 Comments

Vintage Style String Me Along

Hello Dear Friends and Readers and a warm welcome to today’s post. I have spent about one month in Western Australia and that time has been amazing and so interesting. If you follow me on FB or Insta you can see some of the photos there.

Now I am black home and it’s good to be here. My sewing room has been calling and I must say it is somewhat of a mess and needing a good tidy up! I thought I would start with a box of scraps which was doing nothing. A collection of all sorts of odd shapes and different fabric lines, chucked into the box from various different projects over time. In order to make some room and be able to get back to some basic machine stitching, i decided to make some string blocks with this fabric.

Vintage Style String Me Along susies-scraps.com

I sorted out the pieces and cut them very roughly into odd strips. Better pieces of fabric I cut into strips and added to my pile which may be used for a log cabin in the future. Lessons in Log Cabin Blocks It didn’t take that long and can be way more fun than hauling yardage. The piles of strips look very nice and my pile of rough strings gave a sense of achievement. As always, there is more fabric than anticipated and I’m pretty sure I can create at the very least, a baby quilt or a lap quilt.

In the pile I also have two old thin pillow coverings, so I cut them up to use as the foundation for the string blocks. My vision is a vintage style looking quilt which is homey and full of delightful strings. Depression era quilts were sometimes made of strings of fabric in this manner in order to use what was already available and then recycled into a quilt top. This lead to some very pretty quilts with a lovey mixture of fabrics. They often used the fabric feedsack bags to make clothing and quilts. It is a great look. The way the blocks will be positioned will give plenty of interest.

Begining by placing a string in the centre of the foundation block on the diagonal, making sure that it overhangs the edges. Cover with another string, right sides down lining up the sewing edges as much as possible. Sew, making at least a 1/4” seam. Make two blocks at a time so that it keeps the flow going and doesn’t use as much thread. Press the fabric strip open. I use a wooden thing or finger press well before adding the next strip. I even used up old bobbin thread which is actually great because now my bobbins are cleaned up as well!

This is how it looks from the back before trimming. It may look a little distorted because the foundry=tion was very thin however that will not matter once the block is trimmed.

I remember PJ from Quilting time in Dixie saying that she used old thin sheets for the foundation blocks and that seemed like an excellent idea to me.

In order to keep this as simple as possible I used my regular 6” ruler to cut the fabric into 6” x 6” squares to use for the foundations. This made it very easy to trim the blocks after pressing. this is how it looks from the front before trimming.

I used my trusty old treadle to make these blocks. Having been out of use for a while she responded to a good oiling. That is one of the advantages of this machine. The maintenance is easy, just give a good oiling! Treadle Tinkering

I plan to put the blocks together like this. I really like the pattern and it looks good from every side. I hope you can feel inspired dot make some string blocks. Loads of fun. It doesn’t require over thinking which means that it progresses very quickly.

If you enjoyed this post, you may also like these other string projects.

Any String Goes – Pineapple Improvisational String Quilt Blocks

String Pot Holders or Trivets for Christmas

quilted christmas scrappy string stockings

Crazy Little Strings – Diamond Charms Quilt Block and Tutorial

Pink Strings Table Mat

String Feeder QAYG Bib

“End of Day” Quilters Basket – Free Tutorial

Thank you for joining me today and as always I wish you happpy stitching.

All the best, Susie.

Clove and Lavender Fish, Sachen und Zakka Style - Handmade things for home

Clove and Lavender Fish

November 16, 2025 Susie Stuklis 9 Comments

Clove and Lavender Fish

Hello Dear Friends, Readers, Patchworkers and Quilters. I warmly welcome you to today’s post. It is mostly about patchwork and quilting on this site, however, I do think it is nice to have a small scrap project to make occasionally. There’s a lot of satisfaction in making a small project and also being able to use up some of those smaller scraps, which may not otherwise get a look in.

What is worse than having clove and lavender fish in your wardrobe? Having silverfish! And they are not a joke. They can certainly do a lot of damage to clothes very silently without you being aware, until one day, you pull something out, only to find it has little holes in it!

I have discussed this at some length in this post. Cupboard Keeps

Now, I am not saying that these are a complete panacea to the problem however, I do believe that they play a good role in prevention. Naptheline is really not nice and probably a last resort if there’s really a significant problem. Cloves are so much better and they last for years.

I was inspired to make some of these Lavender Fish as I have seen them on Pinterest. So I decided to make my own little pattern and whip up a few using scraps of course! The difference here is that I like to add cloves as well to my fish, to prevent the silverfish. The nice thing about these is you can put some little scraps together and make some very cute looking fish that you that you can hang in and around your wardrobes to help keep any unwanted critters away. You can also choose a theme if you prefer for instance a beach theme, or a country theme, or floral theme you could also recycle men’s shirts or denim would be lovely as well.

A young lady, I know, once told me that her family given up buying presents at Christmas time. Instead, everybody brings something that they have made themselves, whether that be jams, jellies pickles, ceramics, or in our case, we would perhaps make something that we stitched. As Christmas is never far away and these are a great little project, they would be a nice gift for anybody. They are a little bit different, sweet as anything and actually useful.

Given that fish come in so many different shapes, colours and sizes you can make yours as individual as you like.

Approximate finished size 9” x 3 ½”

Requirements for Making the Clove and Lavender Fish

Assorted scraps of fabric at least 4 inches wide

(Optional) Small squares of fabric folded twice on the diagonal like a prairie point if adding fins.

Paper to make your fish pattern

Paper scissors and sewing scissors

Dried lavender

Cloves

Polyester fibre fill

String or ribbons for the hanging loop

Buttons for the eyes

Hand sewing needle

Making the Clove and Lavender Fish Pattern

Fold your piece of paper in half length wise. Draw a half fish shape longitudinally along the fold. The fish I made is approximately 8.5“ x 3.5“.

Cut out the fish while the paper is still folded. Open out the fish pattern.

Clove and Lavender Fish susies-scraps.com

Making the Clove and Lavender Fish

Sew various fabric pieces together which are at least 4 inches wide to make a piece which is at least 10 inches long. Be sure to make two that match for each fish so that their stripes can go right around the body.

Press these pieces. Make sure to press the seam allowances in opposite directions for each piece so that you will be able to nest the seams nicely together.

Align the two pieces of fabric right sides together. Make a loop from the string or ribbon whatever length you would like making different lengths is a good idea. Knot the two ends together. Lay this loop between the two pieces of fabric with the knot hanging out of the mouth end of the fish. Centre the pattern on the fabrics ensuring there is at least a quarter inch overhang of fabric all the way round pin the pattern to the fabrics.

(Optional) If adding fins do it now by placing a prairie point facing inside the fish with the raw edges aligned a quarter inch away from the paper pattern. Sew around the fish close to the paper pattern. Leave an opening for turning.

Trim the fish shape 1/4” away from the stitching line. Clip the corners and into the edges of the tail but not too close to the stitching line. Turn to the right side. Use the string or ribbon to help pull the fish to the right side. Fill the tail of the fish with the dried lavender. Add some fibre fill to the head end and some towards the tail. Finished by adding at least a tablespoon or two of cloves. Add a bit more fibre fill if necessary to make the fish the size that you would like.

Hand stitch the opening closed. Sew a button to each side of the fish head for the eyes. Enjoy the delicious scent. These will be the sweetest smelling fish you’ve ever met!

Thank you for joining me on this little fishy adventure today. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I have enjoyed making these and you may also like..

Cane Toad Cutie Bean Bag & Pattern

Babushka Tactual Doll and Pattern

Hexagon Star Snowflake Trivet

Pot-Holders Quilted Flower Pots

Pincushion On Point

Happy stitching

Susie

Pink Strings Table Mat, Sachen und Zakka Style - Handmade things for home

Pink Strings Table Mat

January 3, 2023 Susie Stuklis 2 Comments

Pink Strings Table Mat

Hello Dear Friends and Readers, and a warm welcome to todays post and to a bright New Year for 2023. I am in the mood for string projects and I hope you will be too.

In today’s post I am sharing with you all this little, Pink Strings Table Mat It is a quick project. I have definitely enjoyed making and using all the potholders, trivets, dish mats, kettle quiltlets and coasters I have made over time. These are very useful household items and not to forget they can make lovely small gifts as well. This mat can be useful to protect a table top or even as a placemat if preferred. I really like the way all the strings play together to make a unique table mat. Using lots of fabric strings and a Quilt As You Go (QAYG) method gives the Pink Strings Table Mat a lot of structure and makes it extra sturdy.

A Quilt As You Go Project

If you are not familiar with Quilt As You Go methods, it is a way of quilting the project during construction rather than after. Some examples of this can be sewing an “X” on two layers of fabric with one layer of flannel or batting in between which is often done when making rag quilts. Another method is making a small potholder quilt and then quilting and binding it. This method is then repeated as many times as desired and then they are hand stitched all together to make a larger quilt. Because each small piece was already quilted then this is also a form of QAYG. In todays example I will show how the item is quilted at the same time as each piece of fabric is added to the fabric and batting base.

Tips on Fabric Strings

For more tips on using fabric strings, see the previous post of String Pot Holders or Trivets for Christmas

I will give the requirement to make one Pink Strings Table Mat.

My suggestion is making two at a time to make the process more efficient because you are chain piecing and saving thread. If you only want to make one then I suggest piecing some other blocks in between.

Seam allowance is variable.

Finished size 12” x 18”

Requirements to make the Pink Strings Table Mat

1 of backing fabric 14” x 20” (a fat quarter could be used)

1 of Batting piece 14” x 20”

Approximately 40 leftover fabric strings at least 14” long each using prints of pinks apricots browns teal greens and light greens

2 of width of fabric strips 2 1/4” wide for the binding

Today I am using a Singer 15 treadle which is 120 years old. Learn to Treadle

Pink Strings Table Mat susies-scraps.com

Making the Pink Strings Table Mat

Lay out the backing fabric right side down and top with the batting piece. Make sure that the two pieces are aligned and smooth out carefully with your hands so that it is nice and flat.

Beginning at the centre of the mat, lay down one fabric string on the mat so that it slightly overhangs each side of the mat right side facing up. Lay a second string right side down on top of the first string so the the edges on the right edge of the two strings are aligned as much as possible. sew along that edge using an approximate 1/4” seam allowance. It does not have to be accurate as long as the edges are contained. Open up the second string and press toward the batting. Add the next string in the same way, right side down on top of the second string. sew along the right edge. Open up and press toward the batting. Finger press or roller press along the seam to open it up.

Continue adding strings in the same manner. If you are making two as I did, then keep going to the next mat and interchanging between the two mats.

Keep going until the mat is completely covered to the ends of the mat.

Take to the cutting mat and use a rotary cutter and ruler to trim the mat so that it measures 12” x 18”. the mat is already quilted because it is a QAYG project.