How to find free fabrics for little craft and sewing projects

I have been making crafts using recycled fabric for many years. Today, I am sharing one of my tricks for finding free fabric for your creative projects.

The trick is repurposing swatches used by design and decor stores. For those who do not know, these stores use big binders for their clients to sample fabrics that are available to order. Many fabric companies for interior design and decor use this selling method.

It is important to know that most of the fabric collections are eventually pulled from sale, and the sample binders become unusable for the designers as a result.

That's when it is necessary to have good contacts! I have a friend who was an interior designer and who worked for a design and decor store. So when I offered to go and get their binders instead of tossing them in the garbage, she was very collaborative.

This is how I got many free catalogues!

If you have the option, the ideal is to choose larger catalogues with the most fabrics without frames (because some fabrics are attached to a cardboard frame).

Then all you have to do is remove the binding and cut the loose parts of the fabric.

The fabrics are wonderful and take just a little bit of creativity to make use of them. Here are some projects that I’ve made from the scraps.

Sewing a fabric bracelet – Free pattern and tutorial

Pouch Sewing Pattern

 

Pocket tissue holder sewing pattern

  
I hope that you feel inspired to use recycled fabric. It is really fun and rewarding!
 
If you have any questions or project ideas to make with this fabric, don’t hesitate to leave a comment.
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