Thrumbs, Crumbs, Orts and Cabbage

 Ah, the leftovers, the little bits of not quite trash.  The stuff that three days after you toss it you need just a tiny bit of.

Thrumbs - the part of the warp threads that you can't actually weave because it's inside of the loom at the end of the project.  On my loom, that's a bit over a yard of EACH thread in the warp.   Here's a ice cream tub of thrums that I'm turning back into a ball of yarn for the sock yarn blanket.  That entire project is one huge batch of Russian joins, but they were more fun when it was all different colors and not just endless yards of navy blue.

Crumbs - fabric smaller than about an inch square.  1.5 inches by 1.5 inches is enough for a postage stamp quilt, but anything you can't fit  this template on counts as a crumb.  I make my own 'precuts' by cutting strips and squares, cutting larger to smaller until all that is left is crumbs, which go into a bucket by the warm/cream and cool/white classification that Jo uses (link to her website).   Fat quarters (18 x 22), fat eighth (9 x 21 or 18 x 11), 10 inch square (layer cake), 5 inch square (charm square), 2.5 inches (strips and squares) and 1.5 inches (strips and squares).  If I ever get my quilting storage set up, I'll show my boxes and buckets.  But right now it's a hot mess stuffed into a corner of the basement.  Crumbs are very useful for random paper piecing.   Sometimes I stop at 2.5 inches just so my crumb buckets have a FEW larger bits.  I don't use a lot of 1 inch finished pieces, Lucy Boston not withstanding.

Orts - the ends of needlework threads.   I can't tell you how often I have pulled out four or five inches of thread to make the last one or two stitches of a color.   I have two of these ort jars, one at my sewing space on the tray under the antique music stand and one on my desk for when I stitch there.   

Cabbage - Historically, dressmakers and tailors either charged their customers for a full yardage cut or the customer brought in enough fabric for the garment.  And the dressmaker or tailor got to keep the leftovers.  (See this post from Barbara Brackman's "Material Culture" blog).  Again very useful when you only need a little scrap of lace, or enough of that lining fabric to make a pocket or so forth.  I haven't done any dressmaking or costuming in several years now.  I can barely find time to quilt, let alone a more complex project with fitting and so forth.   But I've been watching cos-tube (costuming on You Tube, just like floss-tube is stitching on You Tube), and I'm really getting the itch to do an 18th century project.   I'll just go lie down until the urge passes.  I do NOT need any more big projects!

Eventually you get down to 'it's too small to be remotely useful', what then?   STUFFING - pincushions, pillows, etc. And at the end of it all?  Wool, silk, linen, cotton and even rayon are all biodegradable, so into the compost!