Tutorial: Dishy Scraps

Or is it "Scrappy Dishes?" 

I've recently discovered another way to use scraps - scarps, as my friend Char (Cloth Stitched) once called them. 😀

Let's make fabric dishes!

I learned this technique from Tash Wallace @sistacraftsidn during a recent free online craft summit, and haven't found a guide or tutorial for them on the Internet. 

Supplies

• print or solid fabric scraps
• white fabric scraps
• Modge Podge - I used "Gloss"
• brush
• small dish - I determined that a dish 3" to 4" wide is as big as I want
• plastic wrap, like Saran Wrap
• waxed paper - I used it beneath a dish as I worked, and allowed it to dry there too

Use fabric scraps! Shown below are off-cuts from making a Posh Penelope quilt. Or select a single print, or a combo of prints to cut up. Anything goes!

offcuts from "Posh Penelope" blocks

I found it most efficient and fun to make two bowls at a time. I could let one step begin to dry while I worked on the other bowl. 

Prep the Dish

From the bottom of the dish, cover it with plastic wrap. 

Smooth the plastic wrap over the ridges and curves of the dish bottom. 

bottom of dish

Wrap the plastic wrap around the dish edges, and crumple it in the bowl of the dish.

inside of dish

Keep scissors handy to trim away too-sharp points, or loose threads. I found that triangle shapes worked well to follow the dish's contours, but I used all shapes.

NOTE: To build the dish, the following three layer sequence is much like making a quilt sandwich. 

1. The first layer is placed face down, like a quilt back; 
2. the second layer is solid white fabric "batting;" and
3. the third layer is placed face up, like a quilt top. 

FIRST LAYER

Place the dish bowl face down (bottom of dish face up).

The first layer of scraps will become the INSIDE of the bowl.  So...

PLACE EACH PRINT FACE DOWN. (If you're using solids, this doesn't apply.)

Brush the bottom center of the bowl (covered with plastic wrap) with Modge Podge. Position any scrap on the bottom. IF YOU WISH, you may intentionally choose to fussy cut a design that will be seen in the bottom center of the dish. (See finished dish pictures at the end of this post.)

Brush Modge Podge onto the scrap fabric and adjacent plastic wrap, overlapping fabric scraps. Continue piece by piece, adding scraps around the dish to cover the entire surface. The more overlap, the stronger your finished bowl will be. Be sure to cover the dish to the edges that are laying on the waxed paper. Letting fabric lay beyond the edges is fine, because these edges will be scissor-trimmed at the end. 

First layer complete

This is the second dish I worked on simultaneously. 

SECOND LAYER

When your dish has been covered with the first layer of scraps, add a second layer of fabric. While the first layer is still wet, cover it with white fabric scraps. Any white or neutral-colored solid will work. Note how fabrics overlap. I used mostly square-ish scraps.

As before, start at the bottom center and work outward, overlapping fabric pieces. 

THIRD LAYER

Modge Podge another layer of print (or solid) scraps, right side up to cover the entire surface again.

These are the bottom of the dish, so you'll place these prints RIGHT SIDE UP.

At this point, your dish will look very milky - the effects of Modge Podge - but as the piece dries, prints will become clear. 

bottom of bowl

    

ALLOW TO DRY

If you've used waxed paper under your project, let it dry there. But if you've Modge Podged on paper, move it to a waxed surface like waxed paper or the waxy side of freezer paper. (How do I know not to let a dish dry on paper? Hmm... I wonder. 🤔)

Allow to dry overnight.

Use a flat tool like a knife, to gently separate the fabric dish from the plastic-wrapped bowl. The dish and fabric can be clingy. If your dish comes out slightly misshapen, don't worry; it can be pushed back into shape. If it seems damp on the inside, let the fabric dish continue to dry.

TRIM

After removing plastic wrap from the dish, put it back into the fabric dish. Use scissors to trim along the edges.

I love my collectible "Petal" glassware, but cutting around those shapes was a little tricky... something to keep in mind when you're selecting dishes to use as templates. (I've always loved this dessert dishware collection because each petal has, what seems to me, a Christian cross at the tip.)

The upside of using Petal is that each tip gave me a place to glue some leftover diamond art gems! Yep, these dishes can be embellished. How about acrylic gems, beads, or buttons?

HOW TO USE YOUR DISHES

These dishes can never wash be washed - don't eat out of them - and they aren't rigid. But they're useful for keeping items together like: 

• jewelry
• wrapped candies
• key fobs
• thread and/or yarn snippets
• pins

Best of all, you've used some of your smallest scarps scraps! 

I was so happy with my first two dishes, I made three more! I borrowed these dishes from my friend Donna. The dish the left has a short ½" vertical lip; the right dish has a unique shape.

Each of these fabric dishes finished with a fabric design intentionally positioned in the bowl center. The fussy-cut piece was the first scrap I applied, FACE DOWN. 

from the top

You can even add a fussy-cut shape to the third layer (dish bottom), if you wish - like the one on the far right. 

from the bottom

Here's a look at all the dishes I used, and the fabric dishes I ended up with. 

Does it look like fun to you? I sure enjoyed myself. Now I'm eyeing other dishes (also in thrift stores) as potential fabric dishes... What other shapes might I make?

And what do you think? Linda