The phrase "from a scratch" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it to describe starting something from the very beginning, or starting something from nothing. For example: I decided to start my project from a scratch; I threw away all of my old work and began again.
He contemplates a palm turned septic from a scratch.
A coating of the self-healing material on glass demonstrates the ability to recover from a scratch mark to its initial state under semi-dry conditions.
"Come on, don't be a dick," Steve says to Becky when she won't lick the blood from a scratch (or is it a spot?) on his arm.
Wells's vision is blurry from a scratch on his right eye, but he has played catch and is not worried about it.
"You get a more adventurous feel from a scratch pen," he says, remembering how a woman in France sent him a feather from a vulture's wing, that he sharpened into a quill – "rather splendid".
The results from a scratch test showed that a CrZrN coating with a single phase CrN interlayer exhibited the highest adhesion strength (46 N), while the same coating with a Cr interlayer showed the lowest adhesion strength (9 N).
He had previously "hit the lottery three times in 10 months," reports The Washington Post: "$500,000 in November 2004, $25,000 in March 2005, and then $1 million from a scratch-off bought at a Woodbridge gas station in September 2005".
Bake an Apple Pie from Scratch: A homemade apple pie just like Grandma used to make.
Moving to a new country and starting a life from scratch is never an easy process.
Decide whether to build a coop from scratch or repurpose an old structure.
A homeless man in Greenville, S.C., has reason to smile today after winning $200,000 from a scratch-off lottery game.
