Earlier this week we had an AMAZING conversation over on Instagram about fabric scraps when it comes to quilting. What are we saving, and what just feels too small and we just can’t get on board with saving them.
There were LOTS of fabulous opinions and ideas about what to do with the smallest of strips and the confetti of dog-ears and trimmings that can accumulate from just one quilt and there was one option that can have very tragic and unattended consequences.
Buckle up Butter Cup.. Why Making scrap filled pet beds can kill the animals you are trying to love.
While done from the place of wanting to do good or to preserve one’s status as having a Zero- waste sewing studio the act of stuffing pet beds with fabric scraps is one that can have dangerous and absolutely unintended deadly consequences for domestic as well as shelter dog and cats.
Thousands of cats and dogs, kittens and puppies die painfully every each from the ingestion of fabrics, yarns and all manner of things they should not eat.
The truth is that dogs (and to some extent cats) tear things up, especially when they are young. Shelter dogs often continue this behavior due to Kennel Stress and it is why until they know the dog better often a shelter dog will only have a poly-canvas raised frame cot for their bed since they are MUCH harder to tear up than blankets and bedding of any type. This is often seen a cruel but I can assure you it is far less cruel to have a cot than to have a painful abdominal obstruction that causes them to have to be taken to surgery with only a 50/50 chance of survival at best.
The Nitty Gritty
Pet beds filled with fabric strips, scraps and who knows what else are often listed as a way to “use up” your fabric waste and to do some good but the truth is that most well run shelters are not going to use these beds and in fact when donated at the front door they are taken straight out the back door and put into the dumpster due to the danger they present. The hard truth is that most shelters receive massive amounts of donation from the public that are unsafe and unusable but they fear alienating the public by letting them know the facts. (the same happens in disaster relief.. it is a MASSIVE burden to have to store, care for and allocate items not planned for.. ask any RedCross worker you know )
What you CAN do!
Quilters have big hearts and want to help when they can, but this can at times having us create in a misguided direction but there are ways as a fiber artist that you can help your local shelter as a good use of your time and resources.
Collect your useable scraps and give/sell for a small amount to those who do crumb quilting or art quilting using tiny scraps and use that money for a donation. Each dollar feeds a dog for a day!
Donate a Quilt to be raffled off to raise money at yearly fundraising events. Handmade quilts often fetch amazing money for shelters!
Make Pet Bandanas that dogs and cats wear to celebrate adoptions, and on shelter party days to look spiffy for potential adopters.
Make and Stuff Pet beds for your own animals if they are not ripper/chewers!
Stuff your own pillows with scraps.
Crazy patch some fabric together to make a a sling for your reusable water container ( see below)
DEEP BREATHS
I know this was hard and some quilters are going to be feeling tender, I get it, we never want to be causing unintended harm when what were were wanting to do was do some good. The more we know the better we can do.
I felt this way when finding out more facts that such as less than 5% of all plastic that is donated to be recycled is actually recycled… All those water bottles, all those toys. Do you know where it does go?.. it is shipped to small impoverished foreign nations where it sits in mountain high piles and clogs their water ways all so we can drink water from a twist top bottle when we are too lazy to bring water from home. Want to know more? A quick Video here
Make a fabric water bottle sling with all those scraps
Being a BadAss quilter is never going to be the easy road, but I don’t think we will ever look back on it as a waste of a life either.
