SCRAP Depot: A Reuse Quilt Shop in Bayview, Open Tue–Sun

The SCRAP Depot, a nonprofit creative reuse store at 141 Industrial Street, sells donated fabric, notions and yarn for far less than a retail quilt shop, and the shelves change with every drop-off. The Depot moved into this permanent home on Saturday, August 15, 2026, and opens Tuesday through Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm. For scrappy quilters, it is the cheapest way in San Francisco to build a stash with history.

SCRAP, short for Scroungers' Center for Reusable Art Parts, was founded in 1976 by arts leader Anne Marie Theilen and the artist Ruth Asawa. Theilen ran a city program placing more than 140 teaching artists in public schools with no budget for materials, while local businesses were throwing away printed paper, industrial offcuts and fabric samples from interior designers. The two founders connected the surplus to the classrooms.

Asawa served as founding board president for nearly two decades, and the group still calls itself her gift to the city. The SF Standard reported in 2025 that SCRAP was losing its long-time lease from the school district, and the new Depot on Industrial Street is its permanent replacement. SCRAP also took in a large share of the stock of General Bead, the family-run bead store that served the Bay Area for nearly four decades.

When SFMOMA opened its Ruth Asawa retrospective in 2025, KQED profiled SCRAP as part of that legacy, quoting executive director Terry Kochanski: we are Ruth's legacy. For a quilter, the connection is practical rather than sentimental. Asawa built sculpture from humble, often repurposed materials, and a scrap quilt follows the same logic of making something lasting from what others discarded.

Donations are sorted by type, so the Depot has dedicated sections for fabric, notions and yarn alongside paper, frames, jewelry, beads, vintage goods and a free shelf. Quilters should head for the fabric aisle first, then the notions bins, where buttons, trims and thread arrive in mixed lots from home sewing rooms, schools and local businesses.

Fabric here is whatever the Bay Area gave away that week, from dressmaker remnants to interior-design sample books, the same kind of designer samples that started SCRAP in 1976. That variety is the appeal and the challenge. Bring a seam gauge and a small swatch of your project to judge weight, and skip heavy upholstery samples for piecing, since they make bulky seams. They suit tote bottoms and pot holders.

Treat every find as unknown fiber. Prewash donated cotton in hot water before cutting, because remnants may shrink or bleed in a way a labeled bolt would warn you about. A quick burn test on a thread from the edge tells cotton, which ashes to a soft gray powder, from polyester, which melts into a hard bead. Keep the polyester for bag linings and the cotton for blocks.

Specialty pop-ups roll out once or twice a month in the workshop space. In 2026 the calendar included Fabric Forever in February and Fabric Forward in March, both curated fabric sales, along with Yarntopia in June and July. Follow @scrapsf on Instagram to hear about the next fabric bundle, because pop-up stock is picked over within the first day.

There is no single price list. Items are priced low as donated material, and every purchase helps fund SCRAP's arts education. The group reports diverting about 250 tons of material a year from some 5,000 donations by residents and businesses. Larger finds that suit collectors, from antiques to prints, move to SCRAP's eBay storefront, with free local pickup at the Depot.

The best fabric days follow the donation windows, since new boxes are sorted onto the floor during the week. Donations pause from October 25 to November 2, and from November 3 drop-offs run Tuesday to Saturday, 11 am to 3 pm. Up to two bags or standard moving boxes can be dropped in without an appointment, while larger loads need an email or form request first.

Pick-ups are available for at least 6 boxes, for a fee that starts at $30 within San Francisco. Clean out a sewing room this way and the cottons you no longer need will reach classrooms and other makers instead of a landfill. Items must be clean, dry and neatly packed; messy, smelly or wet boxes are turned away at intake.

SCRAP runs hands-on workshops at the Depot, booked through Eventbrite, and its seasonal calendar this October covered bookmaking, Halloween masks and a free teacher session on puppets. Its Sustainable Fashion Design program teaches students aged 12 to 18 to sew by hand and machine, mend and remake garments, twice a week in 90-minute classes at partner schools and after-school centers.

Neighbors can also pitch in on the new grounds: a garden planting workday on Saturday, October 24, from 10 am to 2 pm, with Arcadis and the group Climate Action Now, will add trees and shrubs around the Depot. Corporate teams book their own workshop and volunteer sessions through SCRAP's corporate engagement program.

Muni's 24 bus stops at Industrial Street and Elmira Street, about two minutes on foot, and the 23 and 44 lines stop within a six-minute walk. From Glen Park BART, take the 23 or 44. Drivers can use the gated lot on site, entering only through the gate on Industrial, a rare luxury when you leave with heavy bags of fabric.

On Saturdays the Alemany Farmers' Market sets up just across Bayshore Boulevard near the freeway interchange, and on Sundays the same lot becomes the Alemany Flea Market, a good hunting ground for vintage quilts, feed-sack prints and old sewing tins. If you need new quilting cotton cut to order, City Made Quilts on Geneva Avenue is a short drive south and opens Wednesday through Sunday.

SCRAP Depot is at 141 Industrial Street, #1, San Francisco, CA 94124, email scrap@scrap-sf.org. Shopping hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 10 am to 6 pm. The Depot is run by Friends of SCRAP Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit working across art, education and the environment. Bring your own bags, and look over the free shelf before you buy anything.