When I saw that this month’s Aurifil Artisan challenge was “Let’s Get Scrappy,” I knew almost immediately what I wanted to make.
For years, I’ve been saving my, what we affectionately call confetti scraps—the tiniest pieces of fabric left behind after cutting out appliqué shapes, squaring quilt blocks, and other sewing projects. They’re far too small to sew back together in any traditional way, but I could never quite convince myself to throw them away.
I’ve seen these tiny remnants referred to as “confetti scraps,” and I loved the name immediately. They really do remind me of confetti: small, colorful, joyful little pieces that, on their own, don’t seem to have much purpose. But gathered together, they become something entirely different.
I’ve noticed the same thing when I spread them out across my cutting table. Individually, I don’t really see the fabrics anymore. Instead, I see texture. Movement. Color. The overall feeling they create together becomes far more interesting than any single scrap.
A few years ago, I started seeing artists incorporate tulle into embroidery and textile work, and I was captivated by its almost magical quality. Tulle has a way of making things feel like they’re floating. It softens edges without hiding them, preserving what’s underneath while allowing it to become something new.
For this project, I wanted to combine those two ideas.
Before truly getting started, I stitched a few small samples in my Aurifil sketchbook. The moment I held those little test pieces in my hands, I knew this wasn’t going to stay a sample. The combination of the tulle, the tiny scraps, the quilting, and all of that unexpected texture immediately made me want to turn it into a garment.
Around the same time, I had just begun taking Patternmaking at FIT here in New York, so I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to draft my own cropped jacket pattern. It felt fitting that a project centered around experimentation should also push me to learn a new skill.
I built a quilt sandwich using linen-cotton fabric, a layer of low-loft batting, and another layer of fabric before covering everything with my confetti scraps and two layers of tulle. The batting gave the finished textile the loft and structure I was hoping for, while the double layer of tulle added durability without losing that floating, translucent effect that first drew me to the material.
Then came the quilting.
After experimenting with several thread weights, I settled on Aurifil 12 wt in color 2835 for the primary quilting lines and Aurifil 28 wt in color 2140 between them, pairing both with 50 wt white in the bobbin. I loved the conversation between the two thread weights—the heavier lines creating structure while the finer stitches added another layer of texture across the surface.
While the body of the jacket celebrates the collective beauty of the scraps, my favorite detail is the pockets.
Like many textile artists, I also keep a container filled with colorful thread trimmings from previous projects. If I’m being honest, I wasn’t entirely sure why I’d been saving them. I only knew they felt too beautiful to throw away.
As I was finishing this jacket, I scattered those bright little thread snippets across the pocket pieces beneath the tulle and instantly thought, “Oh…this is why.”
Those tiny threads, stitched into place and floating beneath the layers of tulle, became little bursts of color that make me smile every time I see them.
This project reminded me that creativity often begins by looking at familiar materials a little differently.
Sometimes the smallest scraps—the ones most people would sweep into the trash—are simply waiting for someone to imagine a different future for them.
Month 2 of my year-long creative journey as a 2026 Aurifil Artisan. I’ll be back next month with a new challenge, a new experiment, and hopefully a few more discoveries. ❤️