Sunday 8 March 2015

Charm pack quilt

When I was sorting through my fabric last week I came across a charm pack of Kate Spain's Cuzco and had a sudden urge to put it to work.


I wanted to use every square and not chop them up into smaller pieces thereby losing potential size of a finished project. So I settled for a very simple layout for a small quilt/wallhanging.  All 42 charm squares were laid out as shown above and then I added three rounds of kona snow borders.


This pretty flimsy is the result of some nice, straightforward piecing.  Although this nighttime photo doesn't do them justice, I love the colours in this fabric collection, especially the lilacs and mint greens which remind me a lot of some of my favourite summer childhood clothes.



I opted to outline quilt each round 3/8" on either side of the seams and then finished it off with a perfectly co-ordinating piece of lavender flurry.



This little quilt finishes up at 38" x 42.5" which would be quite acceptable if you wanted a pretty wallhanging using your favourite fabric collection of charms or, if you needed a little quilt as a gift in a hurry it really doesn't take too long to make.  I will add a few measurements to help you out at the end of the post in case you fancy having a go yourself.  (ETA - I have now also got instructions for a Double Charm Pack Quilt here if you prefer something a little bigger.)


I raided my stash for more backing fabrics for this one and settled on some pale grey solid and soft yellow, both of which are in the Cuzco fabrics though probably not as obviously as the lilacs, green and blue tones of the main collection.  This was quite a satisfying quick make and if I had a spare charm pack lying around I would definitely be tempted to try this out again.

So, as promised here are a few pointers to help you stitch up a similar quilt if you take a notion to:

You need:
42 - 5" charm squares (Moda pre-cuts already contain all 42)
25" x FWOF of solid border fabrics
10" x FWOF for binding
backing and wadding - needs to be bigger than 38" x 42.5" (a few inches more than 1m of FWOF  fabric will be enough)


  1. Layout charms as shown in top picture of this post.
  2. Cut solid border fabrics into 4 strips of 2.75" x FWOF (for the two inner border rounds) width and 4 strips of 3.5" x FWOF (for the outer border rounds).
  3. From each 2.75" solid strip cut a 9.5" strip (for innermost border) and a 23" strip (for middle border). You will have 4 of each.  
  4. Stitch all of your rounds together using 0.25" seam and adding solid strips for each round to the sides first and then to the top and bottom of the quilt.
  5. When you come to the outer borders, use the 3.5" strips again adding to the sides first and then the top and bottom.  Trim the excess.
  6. Baste and quilt as desired.
  7. Cut 4 2.5" strips from your binding fabric to bind and finish quilt.


Hope this helps.


19 comments:

  1. Your charm square quilt is beautiful!! I thank you for sharing your how-to, which I shall be using.

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  2. Lovely quilt. I love the quilting 3/8" from the seam!

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  3. Brilliant way to use a lovely charm pack! Jxo

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  4. Lovely quilt! Thank you for sharing! I love all things Kate Spain

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  5. lovely little quilt, and you really are on a roll!

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  6. Cute quilt. I wish I was this productive when I was pregnant!

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  7. Love this quilt too. Simple, but very striking with your fabric choices and the layout. (found your quilt on Kate Spain's FB page.) :-) Hugs, H in HEaldsburg

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  8. Super quick project! I just made a top in a few hours and it's super cute! I had a Winnie the Pooh charm pack and had no idea what to do with it so I used this layout and it's perfect. Thank you for simple, to the point instructions.

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  10. Love this design. It would make a darling Linus Project quilt. Thanks for sharing.
    Joline

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  11. Bravo! This is just the pattern & design I have been searching for. Need to make 2 quilts for soon-to-be-born babies. Using pre-cuts will make this quick work. Thank you for posting the instructions (and the math) at the end of your well written tutorial.

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  12. Just brilliant. You are so right, this would make a perfect/beautiful quick quilt for a gift. Thank you so much for sharing. Love the simple quilt stitching which really helps make the color blocks stand out.

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  13. Hello. I’ve just finished the top of my charm pack(s) quilt & as a very novice quilter, I have a question about the quilting you’ve done on your lovely piece. How does one measure a 3/8” margin between quilt lines when there are no seam guides to follow? My walking foot is about 1/4” to its edge, but I prefer your 3/8”. I’m sewing on a vintage Singer Featherweight circa 1950. Thanks for your easy to follow instructions & please stay safe during this very crazy time in our world. I’m in Southern Calif., where sewing is keeping me sane (well, almost).

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  14. Thank you so much for this pattern! I just made one using a rainbow-themed charm pack, and I love how it turned out!

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  15. I've got all my charm packs laid out and am ready to sew. I'm a bit confused on something though. You say sew all your rounds together. Are you saying sew all the charms into their squares then add the strips or sew in a line, add the strip, then connect with the other side of the square of charms? Thanks

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  16. This is great looking quilt. Thank you for all the information

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  17. Lovely I will be making this. THank you! Have a great day.

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  18. Thanks for the tutorial. I've had this on Pinterest for a while and realized it was perfect for the fabric I wanted to work with today.

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  19. Lovely quilt as I've made several of these for gifts. I machine quilt mine x how do you finish it off ?

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