I have all these scraps for a reason

When I began working at a quilt shop in my hometown, I thought, “This is great — a way to be around art without getting sucked into yet another medium!”

A few months later I bought a sewing machine and started quilting classes. That year I made a slightly wonky Christmas table runner for my family, a puff quilt for a best friend’s first baby, and three stuffed foxes for my youngest cousins. These projects left behind boxes of scraps I’m loath to throw out. I tell myself they’re still useful if I just find the right project for them.

My fabric stash is now complemented by a yarn stash since crochet takes up less space than sewing and is therefore ideal for apartment living. So far I’ve made hanging storage baskets, a shrug, and a fluffy scarf, and I’m currently working on a cozy baby cocoon for the aforementioned best friend’s second child.

To ensure demand for my supply, I decided to handcraft as many presents as possible for holidays and birthdays. This way I can constantly create without filling my apartment with yarn and as a bonus, recipients are obligated to like handmade gifts. I’m speaking from experience.

My crochet habit often accompanies a podcast or TV show in the evenings. It’s fun watching a pattern grow into reality, and the repetitive motions are soothing. Mostly. When it stops being soothing, at least crochet spurs my creativity with new word combinations for when I’ve counted my stitches three times and wound up with three different numbers.

Another point for fiber arts: they usually come with a pattern and don’t require you to be good at math.

Sewing and crochet also opened me up to the concepts of upcycling and visual mending. Old shirts, jeans, and even used grocery bags can become yarn. The right embroidery, patch, or darning makes wear and tear cool instead of a death sentence for clothes.

It takes a long time for something to outlive its usefulness when you can find multiple ways to use it. We’ll see what this philosophy can do with my closet’s worth of unused fabric and yarn — eventually.

Samantha Tucker is the assistant editor of the Daily American Republic.