Just One Charm Pack Quilts: Bust Your Precut Stash with 18 Projects in 2 Colorways

By Cheryl Brickey

The perfect charm pack project!
Who can resist a perfectly coordinated and fun-filled fabric charm pack? Now make the most of your growing collection with projects designed with the charm pack lover in mind. Sew colorful and bright quilt projects, each using only one charm pack, one extra fabric, and a background fabric. All 18 projects come in two colorway options with easy to follow instructions and illustrations. Finished creations have multiple uses! Projects are perfectly sized for a baby or child, but also make for unique house decor as table toppers, wallhangings, or the perfect gift for friends and loved ones. Plus, you'll never need another excuse to keep buying those irresistibly fun charm packs!

• Time to clear out your charm pack stash! 18 vibrant projects that only need one charm pack each
• Step-by-step instructions are beginner-friendly
• Versatile quilts are great for a baby or child, but also make for fun table toppers, wallhangings, and more

• Language: English
• Publisher: C&T Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781644030851

Book preview

All About Charm Packs

Charm packs are curated collections of prints and colors created by a fabric designer or manufacturer. They take the guesswork out of picking fabrics that work well together since the pack usually contains a selection of prints with different scale (large and small scale), print type (floral, stripes, dots, and so on), and colors that all coordinate.

Most charm packs contain 42 squares of 5˝ × 5˝ fabric, but the quantity included in charm packs varies, so be sure to compare the number of fabric pieces in the charm pack you intend to use with the quilt pattern instructions. Charm packs are also known as 5˝ Stackers, Maple Squares, Charm Rolls, or Bali Snaps by different manufacturers.

Newer charm packs can be found in your local quilt shops and online fabric and craft shops. Try searching sites like Etsy and eBay for your favorite designer or brand to see what older packs you can find.

Check the Size

Charm squares are listed as 5˝ × 5˝ square and usually have pinked edges; pinked edges are cut in a zigzag pattern to help prevent fraying. Before starting to work, check that the charm squares are actually 5˝ × 5˝ square.

For some manufacturers, the 5˝ is measured between the tips of the pinked edges, while other manufacturers might measure the 5˝ between the valleys of the pinked edges (as shown in the illustration with exaggerated pinked edges). Prior to piecing, taking the time to measure the charm squares to know which measurement is 5˝ will save a lot of frustration and time when you begin cutting and piecing blocks together.

tip For example, if the 5˝ is measured between the tips of the pinked edges, be sure to align the tips of the charm square with your ruler when cutting or with another fabric when piecing. If the 5˝ is measured between the valleys, it might be easiest to trim the charm squares down to a true 5˝ square before using them for the best accuracy.

Pick Fabrics from the Pack

Most charm packs contain squares of light, medium, and darker fabrics. Depending on the selected additional and background fabric, you may wish to leave out some of the charm squares that have a low contrast (meaning that they are similar colors) with the additional and/or background fabric. Most of the patterns in this book require between 28–38 charm squares so that it is possible to exclude the low contrast charm squares and still have enough left to make the pattern.

I used the charm pack Lollipop Garden by Lella Boutique for Moda Fabrics in the Baskets alternate color­way, which requires 36 charm squares. Prior to piecing, I removed the lighter squares that did not have sufficient contrast with the dark purple (fabric A) and white (background fabric).

Note: All the project quilts are also made in an alternate colorway for inspiration.

Charm squares and fabrics for alternate colorway of Baskets (quilt project; alternate colorway fabric information)

Add Additional Prints

If, in some cases, you decide to leave out several of your charm prints and find that you do not have enough left to make the pattern, there are four easy fixes:

1. If the charm pack is current and yardage and/or fat quarters are available from the fabric collection, you can buy additional yardage of the chosen prints as and cut the yardage into squares.

2. If the charm pack is older and yardage of the prints are no longer available, try looking at newer lines from the same designer. Many fabric designers’ collections are designed to coordinate with past collections, and it may work well to add in some prints from a newer fabric line.

3. Add in some solid fabrics in matching colors. There are hundreds of solid fabric colors available, so it is not difficult to find a couple that coordinate with any charm pack.

4. Shop your stash. Look through your stash and you will most likely be pleasantly surprised to find prints that can supplement the charm pack prints.

In my version of Cat’s Eye, I decided to remove the gray prints from the Bonnie & Camille Woven collection because I felt that they were too close to the white background fabric. Once I removed the gray prints, I did not have the 38 prints needed, so I cut a few additional squares out of matching pink and green solid fabrics I already had in my stash.

Make Your Own Charm Pack

You don’t need to start with a premade charm pack to make these quilts, you can create your own charm pack!

From Color Inspiration

Pick a color scheme! You can use your favorite colors, like I did with the blue and green prints in the One-Eyed Monster, or you can choose to use all the same type of print such as all plaids or all polka dots.

One way to come up with a color scheme is to find a fabric print you like and then use that to pick fabrics. For the Magic Carpet alter­nate color­way (below), I found an inspira­tion fabric with colors I really liked from the Waterfront Park collection by Violet Craft for Michael Miller Fabrics. Starting with the Waterfront Park focal fabric, I pulled aqua, coral, blue, and peach prints that were similar to the focal fabric colors. The additional fabric colors do not need to match exactly; having slight color variations gives the quilt interest. Once I had a large number of fabrics pulled from my stash, I narrowed down my selection of fabrics, while trying to maintain a good mix of colors, scale of prints, types of print, and solids. I suggest cutting no more than 2 or 3 squares 5˝ × 5˝ of each fabric for the custom charm pack. You can use your inspiration fabric in the quilt top as one of the fabrics or even use it in the backing or binding.

My inspiration fabric, and the charm squares and fabrics for alternate colorway of Magic Carpet (quilt project; alternate colorway fabric information)

tip SELVAGE COLORS

If you are unsure which colors are in a fabric print, usually the selvage has color spots to aid in color matching.

FABRIC

•Half-Square Triangle from the Waterfront Park collection by Violet Craft for Michael Miller Fabrics

From Other Precuts and Yardage

Do you have a lot of scraps, fat quarters, or other yardage?

I like to cut fabric scraps from other patterns into 5˝ × 5˝ squares and store them together. I also add the extra charm squares from charm packs I did not use in a quilt. You can shop this stack of charm squares to create your next quilt.

To cut charm squares from other precuts and yardage:

* Sometimes referred to by manufacturer brands, such as Layer Cakes or Stackers.

All About Background Fabric, Additional Fabric, and Binding

The background fabric and additional fabric should provide good contrast with the charm square prints.

Background Fabric

The background fabrics should preferably be a solid print or a tone-on-tone or subtle print that reads like a solid from a distance. If large-scale florals or bright gingham prints were used as the background, it would be more difficult