How to Make Patchwork Fabric

I have a ridiculous quantity of fabric scraps — maybe more than I have usable big pieces — so it’s time to talk about how to make patchwork fabric.

What is Patchwork Fabric?

Patchwork fabric is made when you take little (or big) bits of fabric and sew them together. You can make all the pieces the same size or not (more on that below) and you can use a sheet of patchwork fabric just like you’d use any other fabric.

You can have a plan for the fabric while you’re making it, or you can just make a habit of sewing your scrap pieces together from time to time and figuring out what to do with it later.

I find sewing patchwork fabric to be like putting together a puzzle. It’s a great sewing practice when you don’t have another project in the works, and it can inspire you to combine colors and fabrics in ways you wouldn’t have otherwise.

How to Make Patchwork Fabric

There are a couple of schools of thought when it comes to how to make patchwork fabric. I want to be the kind of person who carefully cuts out squares of the same size, sews them together neatly into strips and then sews them together into a lovely, harmonious fabric.

I actually did do that once, for half of a scrap fabric duvet cover I started in college. And didn’t finish for about 20 years until I started using a more haphazard approach. (I wrote about this project when I thought I was going to turn it into a regular blanket, but the duvet cover was always the plan and ultimately that’s what happened.)

It turns out I also wrote a bit about the haphazard approach, or at least showed what that looked like, in a post on how to make fabric out of scraps.

If you want to be more thoughtful, gather some scraps and figure out a game plan.

I had a few small pieces so I decided to make little squares. Using a quilting ruler, rotary cutter and cutting board is ideal for this if you’re big on accuracy.

Or you can just cut with scissors.

One of my favorite ways to make patchwork fabric squares is by using the width of the quilting ruler as my guide. This makes 5 inch/12.7 cm squares, and I don’t really have to measure anything, which is a huge win for me.

Of course you don’t have to use squares. You can also cut your patchwork pieces into strips, or do a combination of squares and rectangles depending on what you have.

And always save the offcuts because you can use them for smaller or more organic (read: messy) patchwork projects, or little things like these fabric scrap gift tags.

Putting Patchwork Fabric Together

The most fun part of how to make patchwork fabric for me is figuring out how to sew the pieces together. Once you’ve got a stack of squares or pieces, start playing with them on your table to see how they might fit together.

If all your pieces are the same size and shape you can sew them together randomly.

Or you can put different sizes and shapes of patchwork together like a puzzle. I love arranging and rearranging the pieces to get a different look. And you can bet this cat fabric is going to go into something special soon.

Once you have a plan you like, sew the pieces together, using whatever seam allowance you like.

If you’re working on a big piece, especially with cuts of different shapes and sizes, it’s a great idea to take a picture of it before you sew it together to make sure you put it together the way you intended.

You can make a big piece of patchwork fabric this way or make squares out of your smaller squares and sew them together or use pieces as needed when you have projects that you want to use patchwork fabric on.

If you want to get fancy you can press your seams open as you go. You might guess that I don’t do that. But if I were making patchwork fabric I knew I was going to use for a garment (which I plan to do soon!) I might take a little more care to press seams and make the fabric less bulky. But it’s totally up to you how to make patchwork fabric for whatever project you’re planning — or not planning; just making the fabric is a lot of fun.

Have you made patchwork fabric before? Do you like pieces of uniform size or are you all over the place like I am? I’d love to hear what you use your fabric for!